Operation Mariano
by LostGirlsofStarsHollow
Summary: Little Clara Forester grew up to be a sexy woman who wants to be with her childhood crush.  She needs her big brother's help to make it happen, but the guy she wants is her brother's biggest enemy.
1. Chapter 1

**** Operation Mariano **  
CHAPTER ONE**

**Genre**: Drama  
**Pairings**: Dean/Shane  
**Rating**: T  
**Disclaimer**: _Clara, Dean, Randy, May, Lane, Jess and all other recognizable "Gilmore Girls" characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions, and the WB. There is no profit from the copyrighted characters or infringement intended._

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_**Welcome to the first chapter of "Operation Mariano." This is a story about the other Lost Girl of Stars Hollow, Clara Forester, Dean's Forester's little sister. After you read the chapter, please take a few moments to review the chapter and then visit the Lost Girls of Stars Hollow profile page and have a look at the **__**VIDEO OF CLARA ON THE GILMORE GIRLS**__**, towards the bottom middle part of the profile page. **_

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Clara sat at the counter in Luke's Diner sipping her second cup of black coffee and wondering what she was going to do with her life. She had just graduated from the University of Connecticut with a degree in Advertising and had moved back to Stars Hollow. Her parents had agreed to pay for her college if she agreed to move back home after she graduated and look for work in Hartford. Clara knew that was their way of controlling her, of keeping her close by. At the time she hadn't minded the arrangement because graduation day seemed so far off and Hartford hadn't seemed so close.

She was starting to think she should either renege on their conditions or return to school to get her masters. To seriously think you could get a decent job in the Advertising field in Hartford was a joke. Everyone, but her parents, knew you needed to work for a firm on Madison Avenue in Manhattan.

She was also less than enthused about being back in Stars Hollow. None of her other friends from high school had decided to move back to the town after college. There just wasn't any way to make money in this town unless you owned your own business. Plus, moving back home with May and Randy seemed to erase all her exciting life experiences over the past four years and made her feel like she'd never left home to begin with.

There was a time when she had loved Stars Hollow. Back when she was eight years old and she and her family had just moved to town from Chicago. In Chicago, her family had lived in a small, three bedroom apartment. When they got to Stars Hollow, they were living in a large two story home with a big back yard. The second week they arrived in their new home, her father had even put up a swing set for her to play on. Later on, her big brother, Dean, built her a little club house in the corner of the back yard for her and her little friends from the neighborhood to play in.

She thought of Dean for a moment and for some reason Rory popped into her head. In some ways she should have been jealous of Rory. After all, her big brother had always taken very good care of her, but when Rory came along, he took very good care of her, too. Clara took it all in stride, though, because she really liked Rory a lot and thought of her as the big sister she had always wished for. A few times, Rory even baby sat for her. She'd bring over DVDs and they'd watch Willy Wonka or Pippi Long Stocking and go through two boxes of Mallomars while they watched the movie together. Clara had hoped someday that Dean and Rory would get married so Rory could be her best friend forever.

Unfortunately, like most things you hope for in your childhood, it wasn't meant to be. Rory decided she liked Jess and basically gave her brother the shaft. The last time she got to hang out with Rory and her brother was at the Stars Hollow Winter Carnival, which is coincidentally where she first saw Jess. She should have hated him for not only taking Rory away from Dean, but from her, too. But she couldn't help it, she had a total crush on him from the moment she saw him walking arm in arm with Rory. She knew she was too young for Jess for him to even remotely consider dating her, so she got his attention that night by aggravating him. She discovered it was actually quite easy to get under his skin and delighted in pissing him off because every time she annoyed him, that meant his focus was on her and not Rory.

Clara laughed silently to herself, wondering whatever happened to that grouchy, sexy character. Even though she thought it was pretty crappy what Rory had done to her brother, she figured that if she'd been the same age as Rory, she would have stolen Jess away from Rory because even back then she could run circles around Rory's brain and it would have been easy to pull the wool over her eyes and take away her boyfriend.

Somberly, she had more thoughts of Dean and pondered what a lost soul he'd become ever since Rory had cheated on him and then dumped him. He'd tried to get over the whole episode by marrying Lindsay, but that'd been a disaster. Clara was almost glad they'd divorced. Lindsay was a clingy lady who didn't want any other women in Dean's life and that even included her and her mother. Clara was convinced that her insecure jealously probably drove Dean back into Rory's conveniently available arms.

She'd secretly hoped that he and Rory would reconcile for good and this time get married, but once again, Rory proved to be a fickle creature and decided to go along with her grandmother's wishes to only date Yale men. Shortly after that, Dean became so disillusioned with his life in Stars Hollow that he enlisted in the Army. Upon completion of basic training and specialty training he was assigned to a unit that was being deployed to Iraq.

He returned home about three weeks before Clara graduated and came home, so now they were both in the same boat - back at square one in Stars Hollow. Clara was going to try and talk Dean into going to college on the GI Bill. She knew he should have gone to college in the first place, but he'd gotten diverted by Lindsay trying to tell him that he needed to support her instead of "wasting" time on himself at school. She had second thoughts about blaming Lindsay, realizing that the real diversion was Rory Gilmore. She hated to think that Rory was now living happily ever after somewhere in the world after the way she'd had a hand in turning her sweet, confident, easygoing brother into a mistrusting, bitter man. But she had a jaded feeling that Rory was more than likely living her life to the fullest, without a moment of worry or guilt for all the damage that she'd done to Dean's youth.

The one bright thing in Dean's life right now was his dog, Ammo. Ammo was a stray mutt that had belonged to a nurse working at a combat support hospital in Iraq. For nine months, Lt. Amanda James pampered and cared for Ammo. Then Amanda died from injuries inflicted by mortar attacks in Baghdad's "Green Zone." Dean, knowing, that Ammo was almost like a child to Amanda, adopted and cared for her dog after she died. When it came time for him to return to the states, he was very fortunate to have the aid of Operation Baghdad Pups to help him maneuver through the maze of military bureaucracy and assist him with bringing the dog back to Stars Hollow.

When she returned home, Clara fell in love with Ammo immediately. She loved how unpretentious he was with all his crazy muttiness. He was a big, black, fluffy dog, with a smidgen of gray on the top of his head and a long shaggy tail that was constantly wagging. She hoped Ammo could keep working his magic and help bring back the old Chicago version of Dean to her that existed before he met Rory.

Clara drained her coffee mug and asked Lane for a refill, then thumbed through the UConn college catalogue to look at the requirements for entering the masters program for Advertising. All of the sudden she heard a voice going a mile a minute in a familiar, irritated tone.

"Luke, I'm appearing next week on Conan O'Brien's show to discuss my latest book project. I am not lowering myself to help you wait on your yahoos in this greasy spoon of a diner," Jess yelled out impatiently, not caring in the least that his words were echoing throughout the entire diner for everyone to hear.

Clara looked up and saw Jess and Luke running down the stairs into the diner. _Some things never change, _Clara thought with pleasant amusement as she spied Jess arguing with Luke. Then she took a double-take and thought, _Maybe some things do change._ _Could it be possible Jess looks even __**better **__now?_

Always sharp, Jess stopped in his tracks when he spotted Clara at the counter checking him out. She looked a lot different than she had as a child, but still looked familiar enough to make him wonder where he'd seen her before. Plus, he found himself attracted to her and since she was already checking him out, why not cash in on the opportunity?

"I know you from somewhere," he stated flatly.

"I'm that darling child with the annoying midget voice that drove you crazy at the winter carnival when you struck out at the bottle toss game. Remember me now?" Clara said back to him with amusement.

"I need you to add some more letters to the board 'cause that last clue isn't cutting it. No wait a minute…the winter carnival? Aren't you _Dean's_ little sister?"

"Yep. Only, I'm not so little anymore."

"So, I see," he replied, as he thoroughly checked out the woman who had emerged from the impish child. He loved the way her silky, ash blonde hair fell playfully over her shoulders. He found her mischievous, blue-green, cat like eyes intriguing and her curves were so seductive, they should have been declared illegal. In a way, though, it felt strange to be lusting after her because images of her as a little girl from the carnival kept popping into his head.

Clara was impressed with how mature Jess had seemingly become, but she still wanted to get at least one rise out of him because it was so much fun to see him go off. "So…you won't help out your uncle Luke here because you're a big time author, but don't you think that attitude's a little high and mighty for someone who used to be a peon for Walmart?"

"Are you out of your friggin'—" Jess started to go back at her with a vengeance, but he suddenly recalled her tactics from the carnival and realized she was just trying to pull his chain. This time he wasn't going to give her the satisfaction. "Look, Luke has a way of taking it for granted that whenever I pull in to town that I'm automatically at his disposal to work in the diner. Usually I'd be glad to help him, but I only came into town for a little while to –"

"Brag about going on Conan O'Brien's show?" she teased back.

"No, Miss Smarty Pants, it just so happens I'm doing research on a new book I'm writing."

"'Miss Smarty Pants'_? _I expected a better insult than _that_. It appears you're losing your snarky touch, Mariano."

"Ooooh, I can come up with something way better than that, but this is a family establishment. If you want to hear the best that I got, meet me out front on the sidewalk."

"Nah! I have more important things to do than that," she replied, sounding bored with his suggestion.

"Like what?"

"Like, trying to decide if I'm going to go back to school to get my masters in Advertising," she replied, showing him her UConn catalogue.

"Why are you going to _UConn _for your masters in Advertising? You should be trying to get into the program at NYU, that way you can intern at one of the agencies in the City."

"That's true, but I might not be able to afford it. But I don't want to think about that right now, it's too depressing. Let's talk about you, what's your new book about?"

"My latest project is a book I'm writing about Iraqi War Veterans. I actually had a friend who went to Iraq and was killed about five months ago. So as a tribute to my friend, I wanted to try to do something to honor the men and women who've been fighting in this war. I understand there's a couple of veterans in this area, so I'm going to try and get together with some of them and see what their stories are about."

"Bet I could help you with that," Clara replied. This could be her in to see Jess again since she knew she had something she could give to him to add to his book.

"Okay, what's the punch line, Forester?" Jess asked, not expecting her to be serious.

"The first name is Clara, by the way, and there is no punch line. Dean just got back from Iraq and you might find it interesting to know that he is one of the veterans who brought over a dog with him from Iraq."

"Well, I'll concede that's mildly interesting," Jess responded blandly, sounding almost snobbish.

"Mildly interesting? Well, I happen to think that's _very _interesting," Clara responded defensively. "However, there is more to the story than that. It just so happens this dog belonged to someone who was killed in action and he assumed the responsibility of going through all the red tape to make sure the dog got over here safely when he transferred back here to the states."

"I think that is definitely a worthy enough story for my book. Do you think Dean would agree to be interviewed?"

"Let me talk to him first," Clara replied.

"Fair enough, he and I were never exactly Woodward and Bernstein."

"No, you two were more like Dumb and Dumber. Here is my number," Clara said as she scribbled it on a napkin. "Call me tomorrow and I'll let you know the status."

"I'm going to let the Dumb and Dumber comment slide just to disappoint you. Catch you tomorrow," Jess replied.

Clara gave a quick wave and put on her sunglasses and walked out the door and over to the gazebo in the town square. She sat down on the floor of the gazebo and hugged her knees close to her as she thought about how she was going to approach Dean about the interview. She knew it'd be a rough conversation, but she desperately wanted to go out with Jess and this looked like the perfect way to gain that opportunity. She realized her only shot was to try and convince Dean that Jess had changed into a better person.

Since she had been a little girl, she had felt that Jess was the right man for her and she knew that fate had their paths cross again because she was a grown woman now and they could be together at last.

She got up from the gazebo floor, smoothed her jeans, adjusted her sunglasses and headed over to the pet store to get a treat for Ammo. Thinking of Ammo made her feel sunny and confident because he was such a furry little survivor. It might also soften Dean up a bit if she brought his dog a couple of treats.

As Clara approached the Stars Hollow Bow Wow Emporium, she spotted Rory and Lorelai walking through the street, eating chocolate ice cream cones from Taylor's Soda Shoppe. She hid behind her sunglasses and observed them. She hadn't seen either of them in years because she rarely came home on weekends while she was away at college.

She noticed neither one of them were sporting wedding rings and wondered why her mother hadn't at least broken down by now and married Luke. Then she looked at Rory, who wasn't nearly as attractive as she remembered. Her hair was cut rather short and it looked as though she'd put on a few pounds. Clara almost laughed, remembering what a junk food junkie Rory had always been. _Guess those Mallomars finally caught up with her, _she thought with amusement.

Finally, she couldn't be silent anymore and decided she should just say hello to them and get it over with. She flipped up her sunglasses and Rory looked in her direction with a confused expression on her face. She, like Jess, knew Clara looked familiar, but couldn't quite get who she was.

"Rory!" Clara called out.

"Oh, uh…hi," Rory said back, feeling bad that she still couldn't place the face.

"Rory, I'm the all growed up version of little Clara. Don't feel bad if you didn't recognize me. I look a lot different than I did when I was a child."

"Oh my gosh! Clara! It's so good to see you," Rory cried out enthusiastically, hugging her. "I can't believe how long it's been."

"I know…well…if you hadn't dumped my brother for Jess, guess we could have been sister-in-laws by now," Clara laughed, joking that way to hurt Rory on purpose.

"Oh, yeah, well….I guess that's true," Rory replied, not really knowing how to take Clara's sense of "humor."

Next, Clara wanted to get inside Rory's head. She hadn't expected to see Rory in Stars Hollow, the last thing she had heard through the grapevine was that Rory was working for the New York Times. Her unexpected appearance in town could possibly add a wrinkle in her plans to pursue Jess. She knew old love could have new power and if Rory ran into Jess, he might end up wanting to pick up where they left off.

"So speaking of Jess – whatever happened with you two? Do you still see each other?"

"Oh, no….I kinda lost touch with Jess after I graduated from Yale and my mom doesn't really date Luke anymore, so I don't even know where he is these days."

"What a shame," Clara said sarcastically. "Gotta run," she added hastily and darted off for the pet store. She had all the information she was looking for out of Rory and decided not to waste anymore of her precious time by entertaining her or her mother. She was glad to hear that Jess was no longer in Rory's world. But what she hadn't stopped to consider what the fact that _Lane _knew Jess and Rory were in town at the same time, and the odds were pretty good she was going to open her up big mouth and let Rory know he was around.

Lorelai looked at Rory with question marks in her eyes at Clara's abrupt departure, but Rory hadn't even noticed. It'd felt so good to relive a memory from her youth by running into Clara. These days she was starting to feel downright old, especially since she hadn't had a man in her life for years.

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**To Be Continued…**


	2. Chapter 2

**** Operation Mariano ******  
****CHAPTER TWO**

**Genre**: Drama  
**Pairings**: Dean/Shane  
**Rating**: T  
**Disclaimer**: _Clara, Dean, Jess and all other recognizable "Gilmore Girls" characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions, and the WB. There is no profit from the copyrighted characters or infringement intended._

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_**Welcome back to "Operation Mariano." Hope you got a chance to see little Clara in her video on the Lost Girl of Stars Hollow profile page.  
If you log back onto the profile page again, you can now see a picture of Clara Forester all grown up and there's also a picture of Lt. Amanda James and her dog, Ammo,  
posted under "Operation Mariano, in the pictures section.**_

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**Clara tries to figure it out**

Clara thought back to when it all began, the intricate triangle that made her brother a bitter man. The people who were hurt and the lives altered. She did not quite understand quite what happened when it happened. Through the years she pieced it together. Rory and Jess's little flirtation altered the lives of her brother, Shane Ryan, and ultimately Lindsay Lister. Her brother married Lindsay on the rebound from Rory and when Rory beckoned again he succumbed to her charms, destroying Lindsay. Of the three, only Shane did not seem bitter. Lindsay was remote, living with her parents; an untouchable icicle of breathtaking beauty.

Dean was bitter. He lost the two women he thought he loved, that is why he joined the army. Sadly, he came back from Iraq an even harder, bitter man, prone to bouts of prolonged drinking.

Right after she returned home from college, Dean entered Luke's diner drunk and Luke tried to throw him out. Dean and Luke really never got along ever since the time Luke had tried to prevent Dean from entering the diner after his first break up with Rory. Their animosity remained below the surface, and finally came to a head when Luke saw Dean staggering into the diner and slurring his words. Luke asked him to leave and when Dean refused, Luke grabbed him to force him out the door. Dean had learned hand to hand combat in the army, and easily shrugged him off, and proceeded to kick the crap out of him.

It was not pretty. Her brother spent two weeks in jail for the assault. Unfortunately, Dean's life was sliding right back into the same position he had occupied before he left Stars Hollow.

She shook off those unpleasant thoughts and shifted her thoughts towards a more pleasant wanted to get together with Jess. She knew for some reason he would not look at her as a woman unless she proved she was his equal. The six years difference in age did not bother her. In her mind it should not bother Jess either. If asked to explain her attraction to Jess, she could not. She just knew it was there.

Now she had a problem or _two_ problems. How could she get her brother, who she loved, to sit down with Jess, a man she thought she could love. They hated each other. If Dean was angered he could easily kill Jess, and she was not so sure he wouldn't. The second problem was Rory. Even though she had put on a few pounds, she was still a young woman and she still had those amazing blue eyes and the little girl lost look. Would Jess fall for her again? She contemplated playing a dangerous game to somehow get her brother back with Rory, which would leave Jess for her and then maybe her brother's bitterness would wondered if Rory really understood the chain of events she started when she snuck around with Jess while going with her brother. Clara knew if she had been forthright none of this would have happened.

Clara also wondered how much bitterness Jess held toward Rory. Some guy named Logan eventually took what remained of the Rory Jess relationship and stomped on it. Good thing an advertising and marketing degree included strategic planning. Clara realized her dream of getting Jess was going to be tricky, and one false step and things could quickly spin out of her control.

Dean was twenty eight years old. His life was nowhere close to what he envisioned. He knew he was a borderline alcoholic. After a couple of fights, no one bothered him. He would go to Log Cabin Pub, and Rose the bartender would look out for him, making sure no one looking for trouble bothered him. Dean laughed to himself. Rose was probably the only woman he liked at the moment. Rose was about six years older and married to a nice guy, but she sure was a beautiful woman. Clara was back in town and he promised her that he would sit down and talk with her. She had something she wanted him to help her with. When it came to his little sister, there was nothing in the world he would not do, or so he thought. Dean actually sort of liked the army. He did not mind the regimentation.

By the time Dean's tour began in Iraq, the war was winding down, but it was still a dangerous place. In Iraq he found two things he loved: Amanda and her dog. It was one of the most unusual, inappropriate, illogical romances of his knowledge.

Lieutenant Amanda James was an army nurse**. **She was barely over five feet tall and he doubted that she weighed over one hundred pounds. Amanda had honey blonde hair she kept in a pony tail and the true gray eyes. Dean met her when he had to go to the field hospital for a long jagged cut on his arm that he had neglected until it became dangerously infected.

The arm was so infected that he had to stay there for a week to ensure the infection was controlled. The last thing they needed was a soldier out on patrol with an arm he could not use or to be tied up in the hospital for months with a difficult to treat infection**.** Dean walked into the aide tent and sat down to have his wound tended to and looked into the eyes of Lieutenant James. He was at a loss; he did not think he could love again. She held his gaze, looked down and looked back into his eyes. It seemed like she was trying to see him through his eyes. A Mona Lisa smile spread to her lips. She looked down at the folder in front of her, "So Corporal Forester, I see you did quite a number on your arm. Okay, we need to clean this up. I see it is already infected. What did you do, act like macho man and tie a rag around it and walk around for a few days?"

Dean smiled, "Lieutenant, I guess you know me too well."

"No Corporal, you _all_ do it. The big guys like you do it to show how tough you are and the little guys about my size do it to show that they are tougher than you. So you all wind up back here and will be no good to your unit 'til we get rid of the infection."

Dean blushed a bit, "I think you're right, ma'am."

She then smiled at him and jabbed him with a needle right in the wound.

"Holy shit, are you crazy?"

Amanda laughed, "Hey, I thought you were a tough guy I just gave you some Novocain. Your arm will be numb in a few minutes, and then I can open it up and clean the wound."

When she was done, Amanda explained that she did not sew it up, as the wound needed to drain and he was to stay here for at least a week until. The infection subsided. That evening in the mess tent Dean was walking away from the chow line looking for her. He knew she was an officer and he had no business even thinking what he was felt a tap on his shoulder and there was Lieutenant James, holding her tray. "Looking for me?"

Dean stammered "No, ma'am, I was just looking around in general."

She smiled at him again with that Mona Lisa smile, "Come on, we can eat outside. They saw a deuce and a half truck and sat on the tailgate. "Ma'am, um I...why did you ask me out here?"

"I don't know, I really don't know, I just feel like I have known you forever. There is something about you that makes me feel safe."

They chatted while eating; she told Dean that she was from Kennett Square Pennsylvania, an outlying suburb of Philadelphia. The thing she loved the most was her dog she had rescued and was going to take back to the states, and her boyfriend.

The next day at evening chow she found him again, and asked if he wanted to eat outside again. "How did you find me so easy? She laughed, "You're well over six feet tall, and easy to spot." They walked out into the oppressive heat and found a Humvee to eat in. Again they just chatted about the things a girl and boy talk about. They had finished and Dean said, "Lieutenant, I'll take your mess gear back, It will save you the trip."

She put her hand on his cheek and kissed him on the lips for a second, "Thank you, Dean."

Dean walked back to the mess tent; he thought he was ten feet above ground. Dean also realized that they were in the middle of Iraq and officers and enlisted personnel were not supposed to be doing what just happened. They met again four more times and never kissed again. The doctor certified Dean fit to return to duty. He had one more night. As usual, they met and found a place to eat together alone. They did not mind leaving the cooled mess tent to eat in the heat. When they were together, they did not mind the heat.

"Lieutenant, I guess this is our last meal together."

"'Amanda,' Dean. Please call me 'Amanda.' I know it's our last meal together and I am going to miss you Dean, miss you more than you know. They ate in silence for the first time, both lost in their thoughts. Amanda turned to look at him. They stared into each other's eyes like it was the first time they'd met.

Dean and Amanda made love for the first time in the back of a dusty five ton truck. During the predawn they stirred. "Dean, I have to get back, and you have to check out and get back to your unit." She noticed Dean staring at her engagement ring. "I am going to write him today and break it off. I don't need a ring or words to tell me I am in love."

She looked back up into Dean's eyes and he replied, "I don't either, Amanda."

Dean found out that the nurses took turns riding out in an armored column to check the various outposts and to help out the field medics. Dean pulled every string he had, called in every favor owed to him, to be assigned to her vehicle. They managed to see each other every chance they had. Dean fell in love with her dog Ammo. The months passed and it was an open secret that the two of them were in some sort of relationship. Dean's First Sergeant pulled him aside one day and told him to watch himself as the relationship was starting to draw the attention of the higher ups.

Amanda had forty five days left in her tour, and Dean had three months left in his. He was getting his gear ready for his convoy escort duty, when the First Sergeant told him to stow it, he was not going.

"First, what do you mean I am not going?"

"Look, Forester, it is for your own good and also for the Lieutenant's. Her commanding officer sent word that you were no longer going to ride shotgun on her Humvee, and you were persona non grata back at the field hospital."

"That's bullshit First,"

"Forester, you know I am right. Anyway, there is nothing you can do about it. Do you want her to return home and be kicked out of the army in disgrace?"

"What is so disgraceful about love, First?"

"Forester, it is done. Suck it up and get over it."

Dean was sleeping, he knew something was wrong. He woke up and saw five or six guys by his bunk and one of them holding a flashlight. "What gives?"

There was shuffling of feet and silence. Finally one of the soldiers spoke up, "The convoy was attacked and there are five dead."

Dean felt the iron cold grip of fear in his gut. "Who was killed?"

Another soldier said, "Amanda."

"Where is she? Where is the body?"

"There is no body, Forester. The Humvee Disintegrated."**  
**  
"Dean went berserk, he wanted to kill the First Sergeant. It took all five of the soldiers to hold him down. The First Sergeant entered the tent, "I see you have already been told," he said coldly.

"I want to see her!" Dean cried. "Please let me see her, please let me see her." Dean had tears streaming down his cheeks, "Please."

"Look at what, Forester? She is in a million pieces."

Dean lost his mind and threw the five soldiers off of him and grabbed the First Sergeant. By the time they pulled Dean off of him he had a broken nose, four broken ribs and a broken jaw.

The soldiers looked down at the whimpering First Sergeant lying in the dust. "First, when we are asked what happened, we are going to say you fell off the cab of a five ton and hit your face on a rock. If you don't agree, your life may not be worth shit.

One of the soldiers, Vance Loggins, had the foresight to get down to Lieutenant James' berthing area and spoke to one of the other nurses. The nurse went into her tent, went through her belongings and gave Vance what she thought Amanda wanted Dean to have. She also handed him a dog.

* * *

**SELLING DEAN**

Clara entered her home, No she knew where Dean was going to be. Clara walked down to the Log Cabin Inn. She walked in and spotted her brother sitting at the end of the bar nursing a beer, Ammo was asleep at his feet, Dean did not go anywhere without that dog. No one said anything to Dean about having a dog in the bar. They felt he served his time in hell, and if he wanted a dog in a bar so be it. Clara felt a large surge of sympathy for her brother. He did not deserve what happened to him with Rory, but she had to admit to herself that what went down with Lindsay was his own fault...

Clara did not know much about what went on in Iraq, but when he came back, he went back to work as a construction laborer. He was so smart, so well read, Clara could not figure out why he'd gone back to the same rut he'd been in before he'd joined the army. Clara sat next to him. "You gonna buy your lil sis a beer, bro?

Dean smiled at her, he could never refuse her, " Sure, hey Rose," he called out and held up one finger.

Rose came by with the beer, "You're Dean's sister, aren't you?"

Clara extended her hand, "Yes I am, and my name is Clara."

Rose took her hand. "Rose, glad to meet you," Rose made a mental note to get Clara alone one day and have a talk with her. Something or somebody had to snap Dean out of his dark cloud. He was too nice and to smart of a guy to waste his life like he was doing.

Clara was sipping her beer quietly. She was wondering how to approach Dean with her request. Should she tell him about Rory being in town. That may take her out of the Jess game. It would really suck right now if Jess ran into Rory and she was kicked to the side. Then if Dean and Jess got into it over Rory again, her brother would kill him, and she certainly did not want that. In fact she wanted all of Jess's parts intact and in good working order.

"So Clara what brings you down here?"

Clara toyed with the bar coaster. Then she looked up and stared at herself in the bar mirror. This is lame she thought to herself.

"Clara, what is going on?"

She took a deep breath, "Dean, I need to ask you a really, really, big favor and I mean BIG."

Dean started laughing, "What is it? Do you need me to fix your car? Or help you move?" Ammo stirred against his leg, and he reached down and scratched the dog between the ears.

"No, bigger than _that_. I want you to do an interview."

Dean sipped his beer, he wanted a shot, but Rose wouldn't give him any. "Interview about what?"

"I spoke to this guy and he is a well known author and he is doing a book about returning Iraqi war veterans. I told him about you and that you had brought a dog home with you. Anyway," Clara sighed, "I sort of volunteered you."

Dean popped a peanut in his mouth. "Sort of volunteered me, eh? I see no harm in that."

* * *

**JESS**

Jess was up in uncle Luke's apartment above the bar. He could never figure it out. The man had invested wisely and could probably buy any house in town, but he insisted on driving his old Chevy pickup and living in this old messy apartment. When he called Clara, she said that her brother had agreed to do the interview. That surprised him. He knew he could not do the interview in the diner. Dean had damn near killed his uncle. Jess figured maybe he would have Clara sit in on the interview, so in case idiot boy went nuts, she could calm him down.

He stopped for a second and thought about Clara, _Wow had she turned into something_. The chick was gorgeous, he knew that she liked him. Two things kept him at a distance. One, was that he thought of her as a twelve year old, and the other, was her brother Dean. To say that they did not like each other would be an understatement.

Jess thought back to his late friend, the one who was killed in Iraq. Jess looked down at the floor what a waste. Such a waste. He remembered the last letter he received from her. It was a Dear John letter. Of all the girls he had dated, this was the one. They had become engaged four months before she left.

Then came the letter…

_Dear Jess,_

_This is going to be the hardest letter I have ever written. More so if you will continue to believe I still love you. I met a man. I looked into his eyes and I knew he was the one I wanted to climb a mountain with, speed down a highway in a convertible with, go fishing with, go dancing with, have children with. Jess it is not the time and distance that breaking us up. We could be on the altar being married and if he walked up and looked into my eyes. I would walk out of the church with him._

_Please forgive me_

_Love,_

_Amanda_

Jess knew that letter by heart. It ripped him apart. There was nothing he could do. He found out several months later, from her family, that she was killed.

That put an unsettled finality to her; he did not want to let her go. So that is how the interview quest began. Eventually to become a book.

* * *

**THE INTERVIEW**

Much to Clara's consternation, Jess chose the dining room of the Dragon Fly Inn. She just knew one way or another the choice of this location was going to spell trouble. Anything that had to do with Rory Gilmore or her mother, Lorelai, usually did.

Jess was seated when Clara walked in with Dean. _Good God_, he thought to himself, _he was big_ _before, but now he's filled out, too_. Jess figured he would have to run like hell. It would not even be a contest.

Dean spotted Jess and turned to Clara, "What is he doing here?"

Several patrons turned at the sound of Dean's loud voice. "**Ssshhhhh**, Dean! Come on, act your age."

"I am not going to talk to _him_." Dean turned to leave, he was pissed anyway because they made him leave Ammo in his truck.

Clara stepped in front of him, "You promised Dean, he is legitimate. Just do it for me, **please**."

Dean turned around and walked to the table and sat, he also saw Michel off at the doorway, frowning at him.

Dean sat and stared at Jess, "Look, Jess, I am not going to shake your hand or make nice with you. Ask your questions and let's get this over with."

"Fair enough Dean, don't you think it is a bit ironic where we are holding this interview?" he asked, trying to lighten the mood, but regretting it the minute he said it.

"Not at all Jess, come on let's get this over with."

Jess proceeded to quiz Dean on various aspects of the army. How he felt the army was doing its job. How he thought morale was. Dean started to relax. Jess was asking insightful, thoughtful questions.

Clara was fascinated. She was gaining insight on her brother. Things she never would have guessed. Also she was quite impressed with Jess. He was handsome, articulate and…handsome.

"Okay, Dean, I just have a few more questions. These are going to be how you found the dog."

Dean paused and gathered himself.

Jess could sense this was not going to be easy for him.

Dean briefly said, "I met someone over there who had a dog,"

"And they were killed?" Jess added.

"Yes."

"One more question, Dean, would you mind if I asked for the name of the dog's owner?"

Dean took a deep breath, he was on the verge of breaking down and he knew it. "Yes, I owe it to her to give her name, Lieutenant Amanda James. I was in love with her, and she was in love with me."

Clara never knew Amanda James was Dean's girlfriend in Iraq. She'd never even known he'd had a girlfriend in Iraq. He'd told her family about Amanda when be brought Ammo home, but as far as she'd known, they were just good friends and nothing more. She saw that her brother was having a hard time. Then she looked at Jess to see if he was done with the interview. What she saw shocked her. Jess had knocked over his drink and was sitting there open mouthed with a tear running down his cheek. Something had happened, what had she missed? Her brother and Jess were both in tears. She half expected a fight, but not this.

Jess gathered himself. "Dean, did you say Amanda James?"

Dean could hardly spit the word out, "Yes."

"I was engaged to her when she left."

Dean raised his head up, "Amanda James?"

"Yes."

Dean reached into his pocket and brought out a ring he slid across the table, "Then this is yours."

The two men stood up. Clara braced herself to intervene, get in the middle. To her surprise, they walked toward each other and hugged.

Rory walked in with her mother and saw two men hugging in the dining room. She looked again at them in shock, realizing it was Dean and Jess who were hugging.

Lorelai was mighty tempted to crack a joke that the Weather Channel had just declared hell had officially frozen over, but forced herself to hold her tongue.

**To Be Continued…**


	3. Chapter 3

**** Operation Mariano ******  
****CHAPTER THREE**

**Genre**: Drama  
**Pairings**: Dean/Shane  
**Rating**: T  
**Disclaimer**: _Clara, Dean, Jess, Lorelai and Michel and all other recognizable "Gilmore Girls" characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions, and the WB. There is no profit from the copyrighted characters or infringement intended._

* * *

**Still at the Dragonfly…**

Clara stood and watched Rory watching Jess and Dean hugging. _Oh, great, little Mary Sunshine is going to cash in on this moment, I'm sure_, she thought with disgust. She hadn't worked this hard to pull this interview off just to have Rory waltz in and snatch Jess away from her, so she figured she'd try and push her off on Dean.

"Hey, Rory! We haven't seen each other years and now we get to bump into each other again! So cool! Dean just got back into town from Iraq, since you're in town, you guys should _really_ catch up. Dean, don't just stand there, say 'hello' to your first girlfriend and her mother," Clara insisted cleverly, trying to trap Rory into conversing with Dean first. She figured by saying Dean was home from Iraq, that would also make Rory feel guilty enough to be nice to him first.

"Oh, uh, yeah, hey, Rory. It's great to see you," Dean said, glad to see her familiar face as he reached down to hug her.

"It's good to see you, too, Dean," Rory replied in mid-hug, it felt good to be wrapped inside his warm, strong arms again and pressed against his body. It was the closest thing she'd had to experiencing sex in a long time. Then she glanced over and stared into Jess' smoldering, ebony eyes. She felt conflicted by unexpectedly being in the same room with both of them at the same time. She knew she was entitled to have one of them by virtue of just being Rory. The question was, which one would she pick this time? In her opinion, Jess was much smarter, but Dean was the man she'd given her virginity to and she'd feel guilty if she slighted him since he'd just returned from Iraq. Clara's trick had worked like a charm.

"It's good to see you, too, Jess," Rory said conservatively as she broke momentarily from her hug with Dean.

"Good to see you too, Rory," Jess said politely, but coolly. He treasured the moments they'd spent together in their youth, but he could never look at her the same way again after he'd been with Amanda, even though Amanda had betrayed him in the end. He couldn't believe even Dean would want to go back to a girl like Rory after being with a real woman like Amanda. Speaking of girls and women, he happened to catch a quick glance of Clara studying him while Dean and Rory returned to their embrace. After a few moments, he put it together that she knew exactly what she was doing when she maneuvered them together. Her deviousness was beginning to intrigue him, but his perception of Clara was that she did not appreciate things that came too easily to her, so he was not going to let on to her too quickly that he was interested in her. Plus, while he knew that she had fun pushing his buttons, he had fun pushing hers, too. If things got too lovey-dovey between them too quickly, over half the fun in their relationship would be gone.

After they embraced, Dean took Rory tenderly by the hand and escorted her to a table. The moment he and Rory sat down, they started getting lost in a deep conversation.

Clara was relieved her little plan had worked out even better then she imagined as she stared at Dean and Rory getting comfortable with each other and blocking out everyone else around them. All of the sudden, Jess, grabbed her by the arm and said, "Three's a crowd, Clarabelle. Make yourself useful and let's go to the library so you can help me transcribe the notes from the interview," Jess ordered.

"I'm not your secretary, Mariano. I got you your interview, transcribe your own notes and quit bossing me around," Clara replied as she flung his hand off her arm and popped on her sunglasses and turned on her heel to leave.

"Bravo, Meez Forester," Michel replied, clapping admiringly as she walked past the reception area, "you cannot let leetel hooleegans like dat push you arown."

"Huh!" Jess muttered as he watched Clara walking off, admiring her even more now. She was even tougher than he thought. She was tough like…Amanda James. He almost cursed himself for thinking that. In his mind, no one was the woman Amanda was. How could Clara even possibly come close? She was still that little girl at the winter carnival. But, yet…Clara knew how to get under his skin and turn him on all at the same time, just the way Amanda had. He almost felt like he was guilty of cheating for having the remotest interest in Clara, but as he stared over at Dean and Rory carrying on together, he realized Dean had the ability to try and move on and maybe he should, too.

Clara walked out to her car, laughing to herself as she climbed in and drove to the Log Cabin Pub. She knew all too well that a guy like Jess would start to really want her after she gave him the brush off.

* * *

**Back at the Log Cabin Pub…**

When she got to the Log Cabin Pub, Clara grabbed a seat at the bar and ordered a Sea Breeze cocktail from Rose. She loved how the flavors of the cranberry and grapefruit juices intersected with the vodka. Unlike a lot of mixed drinks, it was definitely not on the too sweet side.

Rose prepared her drink and noticed right away that Clara was wearing a cat that ate the canary look on her face.

"What's going on, Clara? You look like you brought some interesting gossip to share with me today."

"Mmm…for starters, Rory Gilmore is back in town and it looks like she might be starting something up with my brother again."

"Oh, my gosh, you're kidding, right? A girl like Rory Gilmore's about the worst thing that could happen to Dean right now. A month with her and I bet he goes back into the Army for another tour of Iraq. How the hell did _this_ happen?" Rose demanded, knowing the fragile state of mind Dean was in.

"Uh…I don't know," Clara lied, suddenly feeling guilty for pushing Rory on Dean. "I think they ran into each other over at the Dragonfly today."

"Well, you've got to put a stop to this, Clara, if you can. You know how unpredictable Rory can be. She'll string Dean along and then dump him when he least expects it and you know that will devastate him and when I say devastate, I mean to the point that he might even try to end his own life. "

Clara didn't answer Rose. She swiveled around in the other direction on her bar stool and sipped hard on her straw to get the maximum amount of vodka into her system while she contemplated Rose's advice.

* * *

**Over at the Gilmore Household…**

Rory wandered into the Crap Shack a few hours later and Lorelai spied her wearing a bewildered expression on her face.

"So sister-friend, which one did you pick?"

"I…uh…what do you mean which one did I pick? You saw me with Dean before you left."

"So why the long horsey face, Seabiscuit?"

"Oh, I don't know, Mom. I'm glad Dean was happy to see me, but I don't understand why Jess didn't try to get me with away from him like he used to. Do you think it's because I'm too fat now?" Rory asked insecurely. She figured she could gain another hundred pounds and still be able to wrap Dean around her little finger, but the fact that Jess didn't act interested must have meant he didn't find her attractive anymore.

"I think you need to put things into perspective, Rory. You should be happy. You haven't dated anyone since you and Logan broke up after you turned down his marriage proposal. If you're going to go back to your old habit of trying to have two men at once, you're going to end up with no man – _again_. You should know better by now that the person who said the grass is always greener on the other side was a liar. That's why Luke and I aren't together anymore. Nicole came blowing back into town and he tried to start dating her on the side and I told him I wasn't going to play that game with him."

"Yeah, but what you just said about losing both people when you can't decide between them, didn't turn out to be true in his case. He's still with Nicole and I heard through Miss Patty that they're planning on getting married again."

"Well…I'm sure they'll be miserable," Lorelai replied, trying to conceal her heartache that he'd chosen to be with Nicole over her.

* * *

**Over at the Forester Household…**

Clara came into her house and Ammo came running up to her to welcome back home. He wagged his tail madly and jumped up, putting his paws on her stomach and she leaned down to pet him on the head.

"Hew-woo widdle Ammo," she greeted, talking baby talk to him. "Were you a good boy today? I got you some treats!" she said loudly as she reached into her handbag and pulled out some chicken tenders wrapped in a napkin that she'd brought home from the Log Cabin Pub.

Ammo gladly took the chicken tenders from her and went romping off to the corner to dine on them and Clara spotted her mother coming at her from the other end of the hallway.

"Clara, Dexter Michaels called you while you were out," her mother, May, said as she handed her a scrap piece of paper with his name and number written on it.

Clara rudely snatched the paper from her hand and shoved it in her jeans pocket.

"Oh, so what? I'm glad I wasn't here when that jerk called. If he calls again, tell him I'm out – even if I'm here," Clara replied in a surly tone of voice and then ran upstairs to her bedroom.

May didn't believe Clara for a second that she wasn't interested in Dexter's call. If she hadn't been interested, she wouldn't have taken the message from her. She shook her head, neither one of her children seemed to be capable of entering into smooth flowing romances. She'd heard from one of the cashiers at Doose's Market that Rory Gilmore was back in town and might be planning on moving back for good. She just hoped that she and Dean weren't planning on getting back together. She knew Rory was the type of girl that could push him over the edge in his fragile state of mind right now.

Clara slammed her bedroom door behind her and tears started streaming down her face once she felt like it was safe to hide from her tough girl façade. She fell onto her bed and curled up in a fetal position and her tears gave way to sobs as she thought about Dexter Michaels.

All through college, Clara had cleverly darted around guys trying to pull her into bed. She wasn't about to let some amateur frat boy clown deflower her for the sake of adding her former virtue to the notches on his bedpost and bragging about it to the other pathetic frat boy losers. And then Dexter Michaels happened. He was two years older than her and she found his field of study, archaeology, to be quite fascinating.

She was also wildly attracted to him. She loved his thick mane of caramel colored hair and the way it playfully hung over his stunning eyes that were a piercing shade of jade green. He had a gorgeous physique with well developed muscles that filled out his tall frame very nicely. But even with all the things about Dexter that she found refreshingly attractive, she still wasn't ready to make that kind of leap with a man, yet. She wanted to wait until she was established and had become her own person before she surrendered herself to a man. Unlike most of her other college friends, she didn't feel the need to sleep around with every other guy on campus to make herself feel like a woman.

Little by little, though, Dexter pulled her in and eroded the barriers she'd try to put in place for herself.

It was a cool day in April when Dexter pulled up in front of her residence hall in his diamond blue metallic BMW and drove them to the Mystic Seaport. They'd just come out of the Mystic Aquarium and were going to look for a place to eat lunch when Dexter pulled Clara into him to kiss her for the first time, catching her completely off guard. As she absorbed his erotic kiss, she melted like candle wax under a roaring flame. She'd never known such passion could be ignited by a kiss alone. Dexter did not just simply kiss her, he expertly caressed her face with seductive, feathery traces while he moved in closer, pulling her expertly tighter into his body. The flames between them only increased when they returned to his car and ultimately they skipped lunch and got a room at the Steamboat Inn. Clara was a bit embarrassed to admit to Dexter that she was still a virgin, but he treated her warm and tenderly and did his best to make sure she enjoyed her first sexual experience.

After that, they dated for another year and Clara was sure that their relationship was only going to get stronger and stronger until that fateful day in December, when Dexter showed up at her dorm room with a very somber look on his face.

He'd explained that as part of his archeological fellowship program that he'd be traveling to the Middle East to assist in an archeological dig in Israel and that he'd be gone for fifteen months.

Clara started to respond that'd be perfect because she'd be graduating by then and she could just focus on her studies and her other activities while he was gone.

Unfortunately, though, Dexter saw it as a natural breaking point for their relationship and told her they both needed to get on with their lives because he didn't know if he still wanted to reside in Connecticut after he'd completed his fellowship.

Clara was devastated, but tried her hardest not to show it. She finally had a taste of what her brother, Dean, had gone through with his romantic heartbreaks.

Hearing that he'd called her house out of the blue today angered her. She'd finally started getting over him and had wanted to focus on Jess. It was like the devil knew when to come out of the woodwork.

Yes, Jess could be a grouch mouse and he certainly wasn't perfect, but the one thing she could tell about him that made him completely different from Dexter was that once you cracked the complicated code that would make him fall in love with you, he'd be loyal to you for as long as you were loyal to him.

Dean returned home and heard her sobbing from the hallway and tapped lightly on her door.

"Clare, can I come in?" he asked softly.

"If you must!" she answered sarcastically.

Dean walked in and saw Clara's tear stained face and gave her a warm affectionate, hug. Dean had always been more than a big brother to Clara, in some ways he was also like a second father.

"The Clara I know quit crying like a baby when she quit being a baby. I've never seen you like this before. What's wrong?"

She dug into her pocket and showed him Dexter's message.

Dean took one look at the scrap of paper and burned inside. He knew all too well how badly Dexter had treated his little sister.

"Oh, come on, Clara. You're not actually thinking of calling this creep back, are you? You know what a jerk he is. He is NOT worth shedding a single tear for, do you hear me?"

"I'm not just crying about that. I did an awful thing today, pushing Rory on you like that. You can't trust her either – you know you can't."

"Clara, give me some credit, please. Everyone could tell what you were up to except Rory. I knew you wanted to be with Jess and that's why you pushed me and Rory together. I'd say it's a safe bet even Jess even knew that."

"Oh my gosh, I'm so embarrassed," Clara said putting her hands on the sides of her face and blushing.

"Relax! I'm pretty sure he was flattered by it. Trust me, if he'd wanted to be with Rory, your little antics wouldn't have stopped him."

"But…are you and Rory going to…?"

"Date? Hell no, I only acted like I liked her to get her out of the way so you could get a crack at Jess. I have no desire to be with her anymore so quit worrying about that. After being with Amanda, I know now how I'm supposed to be treated by a woman and I know now that Rory isn't capable of knowing how she should treat a man."

"Yeah, yeah. Easy for you to say. She's put on about thirty pounds since you saw her last. Bet you wouldn't be saying all those things if she looked like the old Rory," Clara quipped teasingly.

Dean thought about it and shrugged, "You're probably right, Clara. Hormones have a way of clouding a guy's thinking," he laughed.

* * *

**To Be Continued…**

* * *

_**A/N: If you log onto the Lost Girls of Stars Hollow profile page, you'll be able to catch a glimpse of Clara's old boyfriend, Dexter Michaels, under "Operation Mariano," **_

_**in the supporting cast members picture section.**_


	4. Chapter 4

**** Operation Mariano ******  
****CHAPTER FOUR**

**Genre**: Drama  
**Pairings**: Dean/Shane  
**Rating**: T  
**Disclaimer**: _Clara, Dean, Jess, Rory and all other recognizable "Gilmore Girls" characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions, and the WB. There is no profit from the copyrighted characters or infringement intended._

* * *

**THE NEXT DAY**

Dean and Clara were sharing some bagels and orange juice for breakfast. Clara liked eating with her brother. This had not been a common occurrence over the past few years. Clara was surprised over Dean's admission of loving Amanda James. He never gave any clue that there was anything but friendship. This could explain Dean's self destructive behavior.

"Dean, may I ask you a question?"

Dean took another sip form his glass and quickly answered, "Sure."

"You really, really loved Amanda, why didn't you tell me?"

"Clara, it's not something I like to talk about."

"Could you tell me how you met her?"

"Clara not now, and don't you go telling Mom and Dad about Amanda either."

"Didn't you think it kind of wild that you and Jess were in love with her same woman _again_?"

"I guess Clara, it was kind of bizarre, but shit like that happens, I guess it is like hitting the lottery twice in your lifetime.

Clara softly asked, "Do you have a picture of Amanda?"

Dean stood up and took his wallet out of his back pocket, opened it and reverently placed the picture in front of his sister. Clara picked the picture up and looked at the smiling woman. Amanda was earthy and ethereal at the same time. Clara also noticed she wore the same enigmatic smile as Mona Lisa.

"Dean, beautiful is not a descriptive enough word to describe a face like hers," she commented sincerely and handed the picture back to her brother.

"Okay, Clara, that is enough of this…So what is going on with Jess? I see that you have some sort of crush on him."

Clara blushed, "Yeah, I would say that, but I think he just thinks I am a kid."

"Well, so do _I_."

"Dean, this is not the same. Plus, I have Rory back in the picture. She may make a play for Jess and she has a history with him. Dean, even with the added thirty pounds, she still looks okay."

"I'll tell you what little sis, I have just changed my mind. I _will_ ask Rory out, but I will make it clear that it is just a friend date. I am not ready for a romance, and I really don't want to get involved with her again."

"No, Dean, what happens if she sucks you in again, and then does the same to Jess and the two of you will be back to fighting again."

"Won't happen, Clara. Jess and I will never fight over a woman again, even though I have to admit, it seems like we both like the same kind of women and they like us back. You know, Clara, Jess is six or seven years older than you."

"I like older guys, Dean, Dexter Michaels was older."

"Yeah little sis, two or three years older, not six or seven, and look what he did to you. He used you and then he dumped you."

"Yeah but, I have to learn somehow."

"Look Sis, if you want to go out with Jess you have my blessing, and I know he will treat you right."

Clara frowned, "Well, how can you say that? You did not even like him yesterday."

"It's hard to explain, the best way I can say it is, if Amanda James loved him at one time, he is a good man."

Clara had a puzzled look on her face. "What was she, Dean? Some kind of saint?"

"Now you're catching on. Go play with Jess, do not call Dexter and I have to go to work."

Clara watched her brother walk out of the house. Then she heard his truck start up, and leave. She took out Dexter's phone number. It was his cell number. She wondered what he wanted.

She was alone in the house; her parents had taken off to Cape Cod for a vacation. Clara took out the paper his number was written on. She balled it up and threw it in the garbage can. _Two points,_ she said to herself when she made it with one shot. Clara then stared at the can, got up and retrieved the slip of paper. She was devastated when he broke up with her. Why was she even thinking about calling him when she needed to concentrate her powers on winning Jess? Clara looked at the garbage can again. "**Two points**!" she declared loudly. "I am not going let that miserable jerk steal my chance of being with Jess."

* * *

**LUKE'S DINER AND JESS**

Clara knew she had good legs, in fact she had great legs and realized that she should use her best physical attribute to capture Jess' attention. She stood in front of her closet and wondered whether she should pick out shorts or a short dress? She finally decided on shorts, sandals and a simple pink, cotton blouse. Her legs would be accented and the rest of her would be nice and proper. She suspected Jess had a prim and proper streak in him.

Clara walked into Luke's diner, spotted Jess off in the corner reading something and taking notes. She walked over to an end stool and sat. Luke walked over and asked her what she wanted. Clara ordered tea and a Danish. Luke walked back and placed it in front of her. "How have you been Clara?" he asked.

Clara, a bit surprised, responded, "Good, Luke, I just finished my degree and am trying to figure out what to do next."

"Good for you, Clara," he replied congenially and turned and waited on another customer.

_Well_, Clara thought to herself, _at least_ _he isn't holding a grudge against me after what happened between him and Dean_. Clara turned on her stool, crossed her legs and sipped her tea, waiting for Jess to rise to the bait.

Jess looked up from his work, looking for Luke or Lane to bring him another Pepsi. After no one showed up with his drink, he got up to go get it himself. _Damn, that is a great set of legs_, he couldn't help thinking when he looked in that direction. His gaze followed the legs up to white shorts and, further up, was a smiling Clara. Clara winked at him.

Jess grabbed his glass and walked over, "So what are you up to, little girl?"

Clara just looked at him and re-crossed her legs.

"Hey, Clarabelle, don't you think that this is very overt flirting?"

"You noticed didn't you? If I was a little girl, why did your eyes devour my legs?"

"They did not."

"They did so."

"No they didn't."

"Yes, Jess, admit it, they did so."

Jess started laughing, "Now you have me sounding like a kid arguing with you. You know _kids_ - the thing you're trying to prove to me that you're not.

Clara considered kicking him someplace where it hurt, but she did not want to damage him.

"Let's give our argument a rest and come to join me over at the table. I was going over the transcripts of my interview with your brother and even though you rudely refused to help me out the other day, I'm willing to give you a second chance to assist me."

"Jess, either you didn't understand me when I told you I am not here to be your secretary or you're just trying to piss me off to get rid of me, so fine, I'll go."

"No, come back," the words were out before Jess even knew what he was saying. _Damn_, he said to himself.

Clara turned and smiled at Jess and took a seat. _Round one to Clara, _she thought.

* * *

_**DEXTER**_

Dexter had really expected a call back from Clara by now. He wondered if Mrs. Forester had even told Clara that he called. He knew that there was no way she would not call him back. Dexter was getting impatient and decided to take a ride to Stars Hollow. So he climbed in his car and started the hour and a half drive from Greenwich to Stars Hollow. The day was nice, so he rolled down the windows and turned up the music. Dexter entered the Merritt Parkway and sat back to enjoy the scenic drive. He missed Clara, admittedly he did not do right by her, but it was a logical decision in his mind, and actually was surprised over her reaction. He thought of Clara's long shapely legs, He thought of a nude Clara on a motel bed. He was sure it wouldn't be difficult to turn his fantasy into a reality; after all, the girl was silly in love with him.

Jess decided to take Clara to a late lunch at the Log Cabin Pub. After she settled down, she was very helpful in helping him transcribing his notes. Also, once she stopped goofing on him, he found her to have a quick mind and extremely intelligent. To the point he was a bit in awe. They each ordered chicken salad sandwiches. They were just about finishing their meal when Dean walked in, spotted them and walked over to their table.

"Dean, grab a chair and have a seat," Jess said graciously.

"I don't think so Jess, I am going to stand at the bar for awhile. I'm sure you two have things to talk about."

"No come on, Dean," Clara said, trying to make Jess think she would be happy to have Dean join them. However, at the same time she was shooting a look at Dean that he knew all too well meant that she would not be very happy if he actually did join them.

Dean smiled down at his little sister knowingly, "Not this time, Clarabelle."

Jess leaned back and laughed, "Dean calls you 'Clarabelle,' too?' Guess I'm not the only one who looks at you and thinks of a Disney character."

"Shut up, Mariano! It's a nick name from when I was small. I usually only let my family call me that, but now that I know you think I act like some cartoon character, I don't ever want you calling me that name again! You got that, _Jessica_?"

Dean laughed and walked off to the bar.

Rose greeted Dean and handed him his favorite beer, Labatt's Blue.

Clara heard a familiar voice and looked up, standing next to her brother was Dexter. He was wearing a tight tee shirt to show off his muscular physique.

Jess wondered why Clara stopped talking to him in mid sentence and was staring at the bar.

She gripped his arm with two hands, "Jess, that is my old boy friend, the one who dumped me."

Jess thought to himself, _Dump Clara?_ That guy was not wrapped to tight. He looked at the man Clara pointed out. He was fairly tall and was well built.

Dexter stood at the bar and got the bartender's attention. _Man is she a fox,_ he thought to himself, a little old for him, but he would not kick her out of bed. Dexter put in his order for a beer. She asked him what his first name was to write on his tab. "Dexter," he replied.

The guy next to him turned and looked at him.

"Dexter?" he asked. "Are you Dexter Michaels?"

"Yes, and do we know each other?"

"Didn't you go out with Clara Forester?"

"Why, yes," Dexter replied and extended his hand.

Dexter's world exploded and went black.

Rose ran out from behind the bar and got in front of Dean. "What in the hell is the matter with you, Dean? Get out of here."

"But Rose, he screwed my sister over."

"Go home, Dean. **NOW**, before the cops show up."

Clara jumped up and ran over to the prone figure on the floor and cradled his head in her lap.

_AHHHH,_ Jess thought to himself, _I think the fair maiden Clara likes this guy a lot more than she was letting on. _Jess walked over to the prone man, and helped get him up and seated at a table. Clara was fluttering over him like a hummingbird. Jess decided to stay and see where this went.

Clara was wiping his face with a cold, wet towel and her ex-boyfriend was coming to.

Dexter looked up and saw about two Clara's looking down at him. "What happened?"

Clara sat next to him, Jess took this as a cue to sit also, he needed to check out this guy.

"Dexter, you met my brother."

"Who, that ape that was standing next to me?"

Jess snickered.

"Dexter, don't call him an ape; he is my brother."

"He is lucky I don't call the cops on him. In fact I think I will."

That was when Jess made up his mind that he really did not like this smarmy guy, he wondered what line of bullshit he used to get Clara into his bed.

"Jess, he is in no shape to drive, let's take him to the Dragonfly and check him in."

Jess looked at Dexter, and coldly said, "You going to call the cops on my friend?"

Dexter looked at Clara, he knew if he wanted to get in her knickers, calling the cops was probably out. "No, I'll let it slide."

"Good, let's go."

Jess walked over to Rose and settled up their bill. "Did Dean pay his bill before you threw him out?

Rose laughed, "No, but I have to admit it was kind of funny, and I can totally understand what Dean did. When you see him, tell him to cool it for a few days and it will be okay to come back."

Jess threw a five on the bar. "That should take care of Dean's tab."

Rose thanked him, and gestured to the front door, "Looks like your friend is leaving without you."

Jess laughed, "Nah," and held up his car keys.

Jess led them to his car and helped Clara put him in the back seat, and he motioned for her to sit in the front with him. They drove the short distance to the Dragon Fly. Jess was wondering how much acting this Dexter character was doing to gain sympathy for himself.

They arrived at the front desk and Clara went into her purse to find a credit card. Jess grabbed his arm and said to her. "Not happening." He then reached into Dexter's back pocket and took out his wallet, found a credit card and gave it to the clerk, who thankfully was not Michel.

Jess ascertained that Dexter could walk just fine. "Clara, I will meet you down here after you tuck him in."

Jesssat at a table and when the waiter approached him, he indicated that he did not want a menu, but he wanted a strong drink. He thought for a minute and asked for Haig Pinch on the rocks.

Jess settled in, and spotted Rory approaching him. He was genuinely happy to see her. Even with the added weight, she still looked fairly attractive. When she arrived at the table, Jess stood and pulled out a chair for her.

Rory smiled at him, "Jess, I see your manners have improved since we went out. Someone must have trained you."

"Yeah you know, Rory, shit happens, even _I_ can learn something new - unlike an old dog."

Rory gestured her hand down her body, "I got fat, Jess."

"You are still young; it should not be too hard to take off. So why or _how_ did you gain it?"

"Well, I found out I don't have a metabolism like my mother, plus in my job, I sit on my ass all day. I am thinking about moving back to Stars Hollow and I'll probably join the gym in town when I come back."

"_You_, join a gym? Isn't that one of the signs that the world is about to come to an end?"

Laughingly, Rory shook her head, "You are still a sarcastic bastard, aren't you?"

"That be me," Jess replied cutely and then looked at his watch, Clara has been up there for a long time he thought. The thought of Dexter's hands on her body upset him.

"You okay, Jess?"

"Yeah, I am just waiting for a friend. Hey Rory, would you like to go out to dinner tomorrow night?

Rory looked startled, "You want to take me out? Why?"

"Because I like you as a friend and I always enjoyed our conversations."

Rory looked down at the table and fiddled with a napkin. "Jess, I have to tell you, Dean asked me out also."

"Tomorrow night?"

"No, Saturday."

"That's great Rory; you will have a chance to catch up with him also."

That was about the last thing Rory expected to hear. She looked up startled, "I told you because I did not want you two to start fighting again."

"Don't worry, Dean, and I will never fight again – especially over any women."

"I saw you two hugging. What was that all about?"

Jess paused, did he even want to go there with Rory? "We both loved the same woman."

"Me? That was years ago Jess, but I am glad you are not fighting over me anymore."

"No, Rory, this was a girl that Dean won over me - only to lose more than I did.

"You two went after same girl again and this time he won, only to lose? What did she do? Run off on him?"

"No, Rory, it wasn't quite like that," Jess decided not to be the one to tell her about Amanda James. He was not even sure he could get it out without breaking down.

Jess looked at his watch again, "Rory, could you excuse me for a minute?"

"Sure, Jess, hurry back."

Jess walked up to the second floor just as Dexter was trying to make a play for Clara. They were standing outside the door of the suite and Dexter was faking that his head was still hurting. Clara, in a moment of sympathy, started stroking his hair and giving him soft kisses on his left temple. Dexter saw his opportunity and moved in for the kill. He pulled her into him the same way that he used to do, and planted a seductive kiss on her lips, shocking Clara, who let out an instinctive moan in response, before she remembered suddenly what a snake Dexter was and that Jess was waiting for her downstairs. A millisecond later, she opened her eyes and looked across Dexter's shoulder and straight into Jess' convicting eyes.

"Sorry to interrupt, Clara," Jess muttered, sounding very disappointed in her as he turned to go back downstairs.

"Wait Jess, please wait, I know it looks bad, but let me…please wait," Clara cried out. She tried to run downstairs, but Dexter had her in his clutches. He was very aroused and was not going to let her get away so easily.

"Let me go, Dexter, damn it, or _both_ your heads are going to be hurting!" she screamed at him, still struggling to get lose from his incredibly strong grip.

Jess ran down the stairs at a lightening pace, "Rory, you want to get drunk or watch me get drunk?"

Startled, Rory stood up. "Okay where to?"

"I don't have time to discuss this now," Jess replied impatiently, "just follow me out to the car – quick!"

Clara entered the dining room and she saw that Jess was gone. _Oh God what he must be thinking? _She had to find him quick and explain.

Clara pulled one of the waiters aside and asked frantically, "Do you have any idea where the guy I came in with went?"

"No ma'am, he just left with Rory, right before you came down."

* * *

**RORY AND JESS**

"Where are you going Jess? We just passed The Log Cabin Pub."

"A little bit out of town Rory, I want to drink in peace."

They drove on a few miles further and spotted a bar set off the road and there did not seem to be a lot of cars, so maybe it was quiet, just what Jess wanted. Jess parked the car and instructed Rory, "Let's go, dear."

Rory took Jess's arm when they entered the bar. The place looked seedy and she wanted guys to know she was with someone. They walked up to the bar and an attractive, but tough looking, girl asked for their orders. Jess ordered a Miller Lite and a double shot of VO, poured into a rocks glass, with no ice.

The bartender looked at Rory and she replied, "Apple martini."

"Honey, look around you, this is not the local country club."

Rory looked around and saw pool tables and beer signs on the wall and she noticed that several of the doors had holes punched in them. "Same as him," she said bravely.

Once they had their drinks, she turned to Jess, "What happened Jess? What made you want to leave so soon?"

"Nothing, Rory, I just needed to get away, too many things piling up on me." Jess then drained his glass of VO and slid it across the bar and pointed at it. The bartender came right over and refilled it.

Rory, wondering what was so good about the shot, drained it like Jess, and was trying to catch her breath, between choking and coughing.

Jess leaned back and laughed, "What, are you crazy, Rory?"

Rory caught her breath and sat back down, "Oh hell, what was that?"

"Look, you need to work your way up to drinking shots like that."

Rory looked up and saw that the bartender, and a couple of customers, were laughing at her also.

The bartender slid another glass of VO down to Rory. "Joe, over there, wants to buy you one and says to tell you to take your time."

Jess stood up and asked the bartender, "Who bought that drink? I don't need anyone buying drinks for my girl."

Rory grabbed his arm, "Since when am I your girl? I haven't seen you in years and now I'm your girl?"

Jess sat down and apologized to the bartender and told her to send a round of drinks to Joe and his friends.

"Jess, what is going on? I come home and I see you and Dean for the first time in years, and I find out Dean's a borderline alcoholic, and you, who I never knew to drink, is doing shots like crazy."

"Things change Rory, life sucks sometimes. How come you're not married with a bunch of kids?"

"I don't know, I guess I never found the right man."

Jess scratched his head and looked at her, "What's the matter? Me and Dean a hard act to follow?"

Rory took a sip of her bottle and chose her words carefully, "Screw you, Jess! Who in the hell do you think _you_ are coming here and judging my life?"

"You're right," Jess said softly, "I do not have any right to judge your life, but I look at you, me and Dean - we are _all_ unhappy."

"What happened, Jess? What happened to _your_ life?"

Jess took a slug of beer, "Not my life Rory, I was sort of happy when I came here, but I really screwed up. I saw something that made me realize my life really sucks."

"Come on, Jess, what was upstairs that upset you?"

He looked into Rory's amazing blue eyes, "Well, I guess since you're sitting here getting drunk with me, you ought to know. I like a girl and I went upstairs and caught her making out with another guy."

Rory started laughing, "That is the funniest thing I have ever heard!" Rory put her head down on the bar and continued laughing. The bartender walked up and asked what was so funny. Rory looked up and pointed to Jess, "He was at an inn and while he was at the table having drinks, his date was upstairs getting it on with another dude."

The raven haired bartender started laughing, "That is a new one on me."

"No, no it was nothing like that!" Jess interrupted, now growing upset with both of them. "I was with a girl I like, not a date, and her ex-boyfriend got his lights punched out and we took him to an inn so he could get his act together." Jess looked up, suddenly getting annoyed and impatient and asked, "Why am I explaining this?"

Rory held up two fingers and pointed at a shot glass. They were going down smoother now.

Rory could not get any more out of Jess, so they went back to just talking about Stars Hollow.

"Okay you two, last call."

Jess stood up and took out his credit card and handed it to the bartender. She looked at it, "Jess Mariano, the writer?"

"You got me, and what is _your _name?"

"Lauren, bring me an autographed picture next time you come in. Make it out to 'Lauren, Love Jess Mariano'."

"You got it, Lauren, let's go Rory."

They walked out into the humid night and Jess said, "Rory, neither one of us should really drive, there is a motel about a mile or so down the road. Let's go there and sleep off these shots."

Rory looked intently at Jess, "Jess**, **I am not going to be your last choice booty call."

"You know, Gilmore, I was not even thinking about that."

Rory cringed inside, _It's the weight_, she thought to herself, _no one wants me_. "Okay, Jess, it's okay with me."

Jess cautiously drove the car towards a motel he'd often seen off this highway when he used to live in Stars Hollow with his uncle Luke. After a few minutes, they arrived at the motel and since it was a Comfort Inn, he knew it'd be reasonably clean and safe. Jess went in to speak with the front desk clerk to inquire about getting a room. The clerk informed him they only had one room left, with a king sized bed. He would have preferred getting a room with two beds to make things less complicated, but since it was the only room left and there wasn't another cheap motel around for miles, he took it.

He went back to the car and they drove around to the side of the building the room was on and they ascended the stairs carefully to their room.

"Jess, this bed is big enough for both of us to sleep and not even be near each other," Rory commented when they entered the room.

Jess agreed and slid off his shoes, socks, and slacks and slid under the covers.

Rory thought to herself, _I have on an eight hundred dollar suit, and I am going to be damned if I am going to sleep in it. _She saw that Jess had his back turned to her and she slipped out of it quickly and jumped under the covers.

They laid there for about ten minutes listening to each other breathe. Then Jess heard a small voice, so soft he almost missed it.

"Jess, can you hold me? Just hold me; we don't have to do anything else." A moment went by and she whimpered softly, "please."

He then realized how lonely she was. Jess moved over to her and put his arms around her and she snuggled into his body.

"Thank you," she whispered gratefully.

He held her until she fell asleep. Even though he knew it would have been easy to have sex with her, he decided not to take advantage of her. He felt sorry for her and realized he loved Rory Gilmore, not in the way he loved Amanda or the way he loved her before, but he loved her. Not like he thought he could love Clara, something different. He wanted her safe and happy. She snuggled closer, and with conflicting thoughts racing through his head, Jess fell asleep also.

Clara had walked home from the Dragon Fly Inn, walked into her house and found Dean passed out on the sofa with a bottle of whiskey and some empty beer cans scattered around the floor. _What happened to him_? she wondered dismally. She loved him, she knew how smart he was, now he was a drunk. Clara thought of Dexter Michaels, she hated him at this moment, but it scared her how close she came to falling victim to his charms once again.

Clara found Dean's truck keys on the kitchen table. She knew Dean would not mind. Clara also knew she had to find Jess.

As she rolled out onto the streets of Stars Hollow, Clara was getting frustrated; she could not find Jess' car parked in front of any bar, or night spot - or anywhere. She had one more idea, there was a bar way out on state route two, that was quiet, a bit seedy, but as far as she knew, no one really got hurt there. Clara drove down the unlit road, and noticed the bar on her right, it was dark and closed, that is why she almost missed it. The road had drainage ditches on either side so she had to drive until she could find a spot to turn.

After a few minutes, she came upon a motel. Clara pulled in and turned the truck in the parking lot. As she was ready to pull out, she spotted Jess's car. _Damn, damn, damn, Rory Gilmore beat me to him, he is hers __**again**__._

Clara put the truck into gear and popped the clutch she was so upset. She knew she had no claim on Jess, all they did was flirt a bit. She started to drive slowly back to Stars Hollow._ That a**hole Dexter ruined __**everything**__, _she thought angrily_, he'd better be gone in the morning._ In her heart, she knew he would still be there trying to win her back. He did not let go of things easily when he was on a mission.

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


	5. Chapter 5

**** Operation Mariano ******  
****CHAPTER FIVE**

**Genre**: Drama  
**Pairings**: Dean/Shane  
**Rating**: T  
**Disclaimer**: _Clara, Dean, Jess, Rory, Lane, Paul Anka and all other recognizable "Gilmore Girls" characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions, and the WB. There is no profit from the copyrighted characters or infringement intended._

* * *

**THE NEXT MORNING…**

The next day Jess dropped Rory off outside her mother's house about ten o'clock in the morning. Rory was disappointed that he hadn't confirmed anything about getting together in the near future, but she was sure he was interested in her. It felt good to go full circle back to the days when both Jess and Dean were vying for her attention, when each put her on a pedestal in their own unique way.

She put the key in the front door and walked into the house and Paul Anka anxiously ran up to her and greeted her. She was glad to see his sweet little, furry face and big brown eyes. Her mother was at the inn and it was nice to have his company.

She picked up the phone to call Lane to tell her the news that Dean and Jess were both hot for her again.

"Hello?" Lane answered.

"Hi Lane, it's me, Rory. I was just calling to see if you'd like to go to lunch today. Boy, do I have some news about Dean and Jess. Looks like they both want me again. I don't know which one of them I should pick and I thought maybe you could help me make out my pros and cons list."

"Oh, Rory…I don't know…it sounds like you want to string both of them along…just like you did back in high school."

"Lane, I don't believe you just said that. You know I always have the best of intentions when it comes to the men in my life."

"Uh…yeah…whatever you say, Rory. What time do you want to go to lunch today?"

"I was thinking twelve o'clock. How 'bout we meet up at Al's Pancake World?"

"That's as good a place as any. See ya then, Rory," Lane responded. After Lane hung up the phone, she shook her head. She really did not feel like going to lunch with Rory to hear her bragging about two different guys thinking she was the center of the universe, but disguising it underneath some fake concern that she didn't want to see either one of them ending up getting hurt.

* * *

**SATURDAY NIGHT'S ALL RIGHT FOR FIGHTING**

Rory stood in her room primping and preening for her date with Dean that Saturday. She loved the idea of Jess and Dean fighting over her again, so much so, that she planned on "accidentally" slipping it into her conversation with Dean while they were out.

As if Lorelai was reading Rory's mind, and right on cue, she popped her head in Rory's bedroom and said in her famous, mocking and irreverent voice, "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and now I'd like to present the star of tonight's revival episode of _Dangerous Liaisons_."

"Oh, Mom, it's nothing like that. I would never want to see Jess and Dean hurt because of me again," Rory moaned, lying through her teeth.

"Oops! So sorry, I should have told our audience that you were actually starring in _Liar, Liar,_" Lorelai quipped quickly.

"_What _audience?" Rory cried out, getting annoyed with her mother.

"I don't know, but the way you've been carrying on, I can almost guarantee you'll have one by the time this night is over," Lorelai remarked dryly, without a trace of a smile on her face as she turned and disappeared upstairs. She knew her daughter was headed for trouble and she was feeling frustrated that Rory hadn't heeded her advice not to try and play Jess and Dean at the same time again.

Rory returned to her primping and was proud of the outfit she'd put together to conceal her extra weight. She'd chosen a black outfit because she knew it was the slimmest color a fat person could wear. She had on a pair of high-waisted black denim jeans and a black blazer jacket, that she wore over a periwinkle sequined tank top and to add more diversion away from her figure, she put on a pair of black suede high heeled boots. When she glanced in the mirror, she noticed with satisfaction that she had successfully camouflaged most of her body fat.

Dean promptly rang the door bell at 8:00 p.m. and rather than invite him in and be subjected to more of her mother's taunting, she suggested they leave right away.

She looked over at Dean as they climbed into his truck and frowned. Unlike her, he'd barely put any effort into his looks for their date. He was wearing a gray, wrinkled sweat shirt and a pair of ratty jeans that looked like they hadn't been washed in weeks and he looked like he'd groomed his hair with a twig. _Oh well, _she thought_, _trying to put a positive spin on the situation, _at least he's still the same sexy Dean I knew in high school. Hope he at least brushed his teeth, _she thought, already planning ahead in her mind for their make out session.

Even though it was dinner time, Dean drove straight to the Log Cabin Pub. The pub served food, but Dean didn't bother asking Rory what she wanted for dinner, instead he led Rory to the bar, and not the pub's regular dining area. He asked Rose to bring them a menu for bar appetizers and ordered a large plate of Buffalo wings for them to share. Then he proceeded to order a 7 and 7 for himself and a glass of the bar's house white wine for Rory.

There was actually a method to his madness, he really didn't want to go out with Rory after tonight, he was only doing this to get her away from Jess and he figured if he acted creepy enough, she'd be so pissed she'd never want to go out with him again. Clara hadn't bothered to mention to Dean that Jess and Rory had spent the night together at the Comfort Inn. Had he known, he wouldn't have even bothered to keep his date with Rory.

After draining her fourth glass of white wine, Rory was getting really drunk and really pissed. _Who does Dean think he is treating me like this on a date?_ she simmered. _He knows I'm a __**Gilmore**__, after all._ She thought about her night with Jess at the Comfort Inn and realized that Dean's attitude would change if he learned she'd been with Jess and that he would suddenly become overcome with such jealously, that he'd be begging for her forgiveness for taking her out on such a shitty date.

"Deanie boy, do you know they're having a special at the Comfort Inn outside of town? You can stay there this month for only $49.00 a night."

Dean winced, hoping she wasn't suggesting what he thought she was suggesting. She not only wasn't his type physically anymore, he could not stomach having a meaningless quickie with any woman while the late Amanda James still had his heart in her grip.

Rory continued, slurring her words, "I know 'cause that's where Jess took me the other night and we had a good time."

"**You BITCH!" **Dean screamed, knowing how much it had meant to his little sister to pursue a relationship with Jess, not knowing the part Dexter had played in causing all this and thoroughly believing Rory's false insinuation that she'd had sex with Jess. "Rose, get this lady a cab, I can't stand to look at her anymore. She turns my stomach."

"Oh, Dean," Rory cooed with the same fakey voice she used on him when they were seventeen, "you know I always loved you more than Jess. It'll never happen again, I promise," Rory cried out, deeply disappointed that her attempt to make Dean jealous had majorly back fired on her in a big way.

"Get the f**k away me, Rory!" Dean said coldly, turning away from her and scowling. He didn't know which was more upsetting, the fact that she'd weaseled her way back into being with Jess or that she was flattering herself to think he'd actually be dumb enough to be jealous of her and Jess.

He wasn't about to reveal that the real reason he was pissed off was because he knew that Clara had wanted to be with Jess. First of all, because it was none of Rory's business, and secondly because he knew that Clara and Jess hadn't officially begun a relationship, so he knew it would have been highly embarrassing for Clara to have Rory know she liked Jess after she'd already grabbed him for herself.

Rose dialed the cab company and announced to Rory that her cab would arrive in ten minutes. Dean threw a twenty at her and told her to wait outside so he wouldn't have to look at her. Some of Dean's friends at the bar had overheard the whole incident and started applauding as she got off her bar stool and began walking towards the door.

_Guess that's the audience my mother was talking about,_ Rory thought sullenly as she opened the front door to the bar and walked out into the cool night air to wait for her cab.

* * *

**LATER THAT NIGHT AT THE LOG CABIN PUB…**

Two hours later, Jess strolled into the Log Cabin Pub unsuspectingly. He still couldn't get that kiss between Clara and Dexter out of his head and decided to take a breather from his writing project and go grab a couple of drinks.

He spotted Dean hanging over the bar the moment he peered through the glass front door. He was conflicted as to whether or not he'd even talk to him. No matter what, they'd always have the love of Amanda James in common, but he wasn't sure talking to Dean was such a good idea since it had seemed his sister had been leading him on and, for all he knew, Dean could have put her up to it for whatever twisted, demented reason he'd dreamed up. Jess decided to blend in with an end section of the bar, where people were congregating four and five deep. He'd been sitting in front of his computer all day anyway and really didn't mind standing for a while.

A few moments later, Lane's husband, Zack walked in and said hello to Jess and they ended up getting into an interesting conversation about Hep Alien's latest gigs. A half hour later, the crowd that had insulated them began to thin out and since Jess and Zach were in a deep discussion, Jess didn't even realize that he'd become very visible to Dean.

Dean took a swig of his 7 and 7 and wondered what he should do about Jess. Should he go over to his end of the bar and punch his lights out? He decided against that, he was already walking on very thin ice for knocking out his uncle and roughing up Dexter earlier in the week and if he beat up Jess, that would put him over the top and back in the slammer for a lot longer than two weeks. But he wasn't going to let Jess get out of the bar without at least explaining his side of the story about spending the night with Rory. He remembered Jess was the kind of guy who usually stuck with a girl he liked and he wanted to find out for himself how Rory had so easily lured him away from Clara.

He took one more swig of the 7 and 7 and strolled over to Jess and gave him a few sharp taps on his shoulder to get his attention. "What's the matter, Mariano? My baby sister not good enough for you? I saw Rory earlier and she told me you two had quite a time over at your $49.00 motel the other night."

"Apparently you missed an important news bulletin, Forester, I caught _your_ 'baby sister' making out with Dexter at the Dragon Fly the other day after you went all postal on him. Also, I don't appreciate you insinuating that I had sex with Rory at the hotel. I was very upset after I saw your sister kissing Dexter and brought Rory along with me to go drinking at a bar outside of town and neither one of us was in any kind of shape to drive after we left the bar."

Dean took a deep breath as he absorbed Jess' words. He knew Clara was not a player, so Jess must have misinterpreted what he'd seen, but secondly, he now knew Rory was up to some stupid, immature, childish high school game of trying to get guys to fight over her so she could feel special. He'd talk to Clara about being with Dexter before he passed any judgment, but he just had to comment on Rory's behavior to Jess, but Jess beat him to it.

"So, looks like Gilmore's trying to play us off against each other as usual. Did I ever tell you about the first time she kissed me?" Jess waxed sentimentally.

"No…I'd have probably killed you back then if I'd known about it, but it could make for a pretty good laugh these days, so go ahead and tell me about it now. What are you drinking?"

"VO, neat."

"Oh excuse me, Zack, I didn't mean to be rude. What are you having?"

"Budweiser, dude."

Dean swiveled around to the bar and got Rose's attention. "Rose, get Jess a VO neat, Zach a Budweiser and I'll have another 7 and 7.

They waited for their drinks and then Jess proceeded to tell Dean and Zack about the time he'd come back to Stars Hollow from New York and Rory had given him a sneak kiss at Sookie's wedding. The same wedding Dean had escorted her to. He then told both of them that she had sworn him to secrecy to never tell anyone about the kiss and then left for Washington D.C. for the summer. Then when she came home from Washington, she threw a hissy fit because Jess had started seeing Shane over the summer while she was away. Jess made a comment that Shane might not have exactly been a candidate for an Ivy League college like Rory was, but she actually understood him better and they probably would have still been together if Rory hadn't whined and complained and wanted to get him away from her just because she expected him to wait around for her like an obedient puppy and couldn't stand him having another master.

"Well, Jess, I'm sorry I went off on you earlier," Dean commented sincerely. "I was really upset with Rory and probably more frustrated, than upset, with you. I thought Rory had figured out that Clara liked you and suddenly wanted to get you back the way she'd wanted you when she knew Shane had you. I guess she actually didn't know that Clara liked you – thank God."

"Now you know that Rory has nothing to do with me calling it quits about being with your sister. I have no more interest in having a relationship with Rory than you do. If you want someone to be pissed at, I suggest you pay your punching bag, Dexter, a visit."

Dean didn't answer, he just walked out, leaving Jess and Zack standing at the bar.

* * *

**DIGGING FOR THE TRUTH…**

Dean knew he needed to get to the bottom of what went on between Dexter and Clara at the Dragon Fly and fully intended to speak to her the first chance he got.

When he got home that night, everyone was already asleep. He sat down in the brown leather reclining chair in the family room and Ammo jumped up in his lap, licking him on his cheek. Dean gave Ammo several affectionate pats on top of his scruffy head and turned on the TV to watch a little bit of David Letterman for while. He watched an interview that David had with Johnny Depp and then decided to go upstairs to get some sleep.

The next morning, Dean came downstairs and saw Clara yakking away on the phone. She was carrying on and being very animated with whoever she was speaking with.

She hung up the phone and looked squarely at Dean and smiled, "I feel good Dean. I finally got rid of that a**hole, Dexter, once and for all."

Dean popped some multigrain bread into the toaster and poured himself a cup of coffee and then turned to Clara and said, "Wow, you sure run hot and cold. One minute you're kissing him at the Dragon Fly and the next minute you're blowing him off. It looks like you have a lot of blanks to fill in."

"Who told you I was kissing Dexter at the Dragon Fly? Was it that stupid Rory?"

"No, it _wasn't_ that stupid Rory. Jess told me at the Log Cabin Pub when I saw him there last night."

"Oh, and like he's one to talk, he was with Rory at the…"

Dean raised his hand at Clara to interrupt her. He already knew the truth about Rory and Jess at the Comfort Inn and he'd share that with Clara shortly, but he first wanted to hear about the latest developments with Dexter. "Okay, Clara, we'll talk about Rory and Jess in a minute, but first tell me what's going on with you and Dexter."

"Oh, I'd say a certain little Indiana Jones has gotten himself in a heap of trouble, thanks to yours truly."

Dean tilted his head his to the side and cast a look of amusement in her direction. "What have you done now, Clara?"

"Well…do you remember those bronze figurines I brought home a few days ago?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Well…I had a sneaky feeling that Dexter might have stolen them from one of his digs and I wasn't about to get in trouble for having them, so I made a call to the Israeli Embassy to report it and they confirmed my suspicions that they were stolen objects. They've notified the Israeli Antiquities Authority and they'll be giving me a cash reward of $5,000 because it turns out these items were from the Early Bronze Age, dating back to around 3,000 BC. But that isn't the best part, they arrested Dexter yesterday. You'll be seeing it on the news today."

"Do you think you should have gotten involved like that, Clara? I mean I know Dexter's a Grade A jerk, but you got him _busted_."

"Yeah, well, it actually made me feel pretty good to get that creep busted, Dean. Do you know why he gave me those figurines?"

"I guess 'cause he was trying to win you back," Dean replied naively.

"Guess again, Mr. Gullible. He knew the authorities were starting to catch on to him and he figured if he gave me some of those objects, he could frame me for the theft. That's the only reason he came back here to find me in the first place. Wow, I can't believe he not only tried to make me take the fall for his crimes, but he also ruined whatever chance I had with Jess by grabbing me and kissing me at the Dragon Fly, just as Jess came up the stairs. But maybe I shouldn't even worry about that since it looks like he's back with fatso. I saw his car parked outside the Comfort Inn after the waiter had told me that he'd left the Dragon Fly with Rory."

"Clara, I had a long time about that with Jess last night at the bar. I know Rory would like everybody to believe, including me, that something went on between those two, but Jess explained that they crashed there that night because they were drunk and weren't in any shape to drive."

"Oh, come on, Dean, you actually believe that?"

"Well, in the first place, Jess would have no reason to make up a story like that for my benefit. You, of all people, should know what scumbags men are by now, Clara. If anything, we brag every chance we get to other guys when we land a chick in the sack. Also, Jess admitted he got drunk because seeing you and Dexter kissing at the inn upset him. I guess Rory just happened to be handy so he took her out drinking and they ending up sleeping it off at the motel."

Clara absorbed the news Dean conveyed to her and was relieved Jess wasn't back with Rory; however, it still didn't get _her_ off the hook with him. She knew as far as Jess could tell, she still had the hots for Dexter and her chances of being with him now were dead in the water.

* * *

**OVER AT THE DINER…**

When Jess woke up the next day he had a wicked hangover. Luke had been gone for hours and left a note that saying he was meeting up with Nicole in Manhattan and wouldn't be back until tomorrow. He went downstairs from Luke's apartment into the diner and asked Caesar to make him some scrambled eggs and bacon. While Caesar was getting his order ready, he walked over to the coffee machine and poured himself a large mug of black coffee, then strolled outside to get a newspaper out of the machine.

He hurriedly grabbed the paper, folded it and went back into the restaurant and sat down at the counter to read while he drank his coffee and waited for his eggs and bacon. When he unfolded the paper and saw the headlines, his eyes almost fell out of their sockets. "Stars Hollow Woman Helps Recover Valuable Archeological Treasures."

He scanned the article intently and read about Clara notifying the Israeli Embassy and heroically informing them about Dexter's criminal exploits. There was even a picture of her in the paper, smiling that trademark impish smile of hers, and holding up the ancient statuettes Dexter had "given" her. The article then went on to say that Dexter had planned to use Clara as a scapegoat and frame her for the theft in order to throw the authorities off his trail.

"Jess, Jess, you're order's ready," Caesar informed him, gently tapping him on the shoulder.

"Huh?" Jess looked up with an uncharacteristically dazed expression.

"I said your order's ready. I put it down next it to you five minutes ago and you still haven't noticed it. You better eat up, buddy, before it gets cold.

"Oh, yeah, sure," he replied as he took a forkful of eggs. _This girl never ceases to amaze me, _he thought incredulously as he started to re-read the article.

He felt his cell phone vibrating and reached into his pocket to answer it and saw that it was his agent calling. _Must be about my appearance on the Conan O'Brien show, _he thought to himself before he answered it.

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


	6. Chapter 6

**** Operation Mariano ******  
****CHAPTER SIX**

**Genre**: Drama  
**Pairings**: Dean/Shane  
**Rating**: T  
**Disclaimer**: _Clara, Dean, Jess, Rory, Lorelai, Paul Anka and all other recognizable "Gilmore Girls" characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions, and the WB. There is no profit from the copyrighted characters or infringement intended._

* * *

_**Welcome back to the last chapter of "Operation Mariano." **_

_**Thanks to Summer2391, Marla's Lost, So Wrong Its Paige, Miguel51, Jeremy Shane, Chaeel, Sidura, Maxfoto, and Mrs. Griff for your reviews.**_

_**There were a lot of characters in this story not featured in the regular Gilmore Girls series, so just a reminder, you can log onto the Lost Girls of Stars Hollow account page and take a look at them posted under "Operation Mariano, in the pictures section.**_

* * *

**DON'T CALL US…WE'LL CALL YOU**

Jess answered the phone excitedly, momentarily forgetting about the Clara/Dexter incident and instantly focusing on his own potential for fame.

"Yeah, Ed, what's up?" Jess answered coolly, trying to mask his enthusiasm about his appearance on the O'Brien show.

"I got sorta bad news, Jess," his agent answered matter-of-factly, "your appearance has been bumped indefinitely. They got another guest they're bringing on in your place. The network's rep will get back to me later to let us know when they'll be able to have you on again."

"Ah, geez!" Jess muttered in an annoyed tone of voice, "of all the damn breaks!"

"Hey, this stuff happens all the time," his agent replied honestly. "But you're one of the lucky ones, when they cancel at the last minute like this, most of the time they never reschedule, so at the very least you got that going for ya. I'll call you back when I get more details from the network."

"Yeah, sure, whatever," Jess answered curtly, trying to sound like he didn't care, but the truth was that he was deeply, almost bitterly, disappointed that he'd been bumped from the show.

* * *

**A SHANE REWIND…**

That afternoon Rory wandered into the Stars Hollow Beauty Shop to get some facial skin care products and shampoo. Shane was standing at the register staring at her, wondering if Rory had any recollection of the incident, eleven years earlier, when she had bawled her out for daring to have the "nerve" to be on the phone with Jess.

Shane had actually met her husband not too long after Rory had stolen Jess away from her, so in a way Rory had done her a favor. After she met her future husband, she had enrolled in college and had gotten married to Danny Sanchez about mid-way through college and then got pregnant almost immediately. About a year after she had the baby, she went back to classes part-time and had recently graduated from college with a degree in Architecture and was working at the beauty shop again for a few hours every week while she was waiting to be hired at an architectural firm.

As she watched Rory traipsing happily around the store, she realized that Rory had no recollection of who she was and she also noticed Rory had gotten a lot heavier since the last time she had seen her at the dance marathon.

Rory selected all of her products and started approaching the cash register from the other end of the store to pay for them.

For old times sake, Shane decided to have some fun, so she picked up the phone and pretended to dial it.

"Hi, Jess honey, yeah, this is Shane. Just calling to see what time you were coming over tonight to pick me up. Oh, okay, seven o'clock? I'll be ready and hot to see ya. Bye, baby!"

Rory was about half way to the register when she suddenly remembered who Shane was and dropped her products in horror as she ran out the door and over to the diner to find Jess.

When she got to the diner, Jess was sitting in the corner with a sullen look on his face, still bitter about being bumped from the Conan O'Brien show.

"Jess! Are you really taking Shane out tonight? How could you do that to me?" she whined.

"Rory, what are you talking about? Who the hell is Shane?" Jess asked impatiently.

"Oh, Jess, I'm so relieved to hear you say that," Rory cried out gleefully, throwing her arms around him.

"Rory, I think we may have had a miscommunication the last time we were together," Jess replied, trying not to be too insensitive.

"What do you mean, Jess? You and I spent a night in a bed together in a motel," Rory replied disappointedly.

"True, but we were only in a bed together because the motel didn't have any more rooms with two beds in it. If you recall, we were not intimate together."

"Yes, but you cuddled with me."

"Only because you asked me to."

"I don't believe you, Jess. I know it meant something to you to hold onto me."

"Only that I was doing a friend a favor and that is all."

"You insensitive, callous bastard! I never want anything to do with you again, Jess," Rory shrieked and ran out of the diner.

* * *

**MOTHER KNOWS BEST…**

When Rory came back home she entered the house angrily, slamming the door behind her very loudly.

"Whoa! Why are you slamming the door like that, Rory? Are you practicing for a 'who can slam the door the loudest' contest? You scared the hell out of Paul Anka!" Lorelai commented as Paul Anka nuzzled up against her for protection.

"No, I am _not_ practicing for a 'who can slam the door the loudest contest'!" Rory retorted. "It's that stupid Jess. I thought he and I could pick up where we left off. But no, apparently he thinks he's too good for me now, just like that butthole, Dean."

"Well, sister-friend, I know someone who's willing to lower himself to be with you."

"Oh, please – this I gotta hear…who?"

"Marty!"

"Marty? Marty from Yale, Marty?"

"Are there any other Martys you haven't told me about?"

"No there aren't any other Martys," Rory replied caustically.

"Well, I'm happy to hear that because I invited him here to dinner tonight."

"Mom, please don't play with me like that right now. I'm really not in the mood. First of all, I haven't seen Marty in years, so I am sure there is no way that you've invited Marty over here tonight, and _secondly_ you can't cook so there's no way you'd ever be able to invite anyone here for dinner."

"Ah, ye of little faith, my surly Doubting Thomas. I saw Marty over at the Dragon Fly today. He checked into the inn this morning to attend a conference being sponsored by the Volunteers of America. He's apparently some big wig with a nonprofit agency these days and he was selected by his bosses to attend the conference to learn more efficient ways of recruiting volunteers for their organization. Anyhoo, that's the boring end of the story, the exciting end of the story is that I told him you were in town and invited him here to have dinner with us tonight."

"Great! What are we serving him? Mallomars and Red Vines?"

"Uh, no…first I thought we'd have the Red Vines and _then_ serve the Mallomars. Actually, just kidding – I thought we'd go with some goodies from Al Pancake's world. I heard Al cooked up a pan of lasagna today. I'm going to go in a little while and pick it up and then put it in a casserole dish to make it look like I cooked it or….I could always tell him you cooked it."

"No, just stick with your original lie – that will be fine," Rory replied, almost disbelieving her that Marty was even coming over tonight.

At seven fifteen, Marty rang the door bell and Paul Anka dashed wildly through the house, barking and barking to alert Lorelai and Rory that they had a visitor.

Rory ran to open the door and there stood Marty on the other side, looking more handsome than she could have ever imagined and holding a bouquet of purple tulips, her very favorite flowers.

"Rory, it's great to see you," Marty said, hugging her warmly. "You look as beautiful as you ever did. Here, these are for you," he said as he handed her the bouquet of flowers.

"Thank you, Marty, how did you know purple tulips were my favorite flowers?" Rory asked appreciatively.

At that moment, Lorelai came by whistling and Rory turned back and looked at Marty and said, "Never mind, no need to answer the question, I get it." She then invited Marty into the house and the beginning of a very lovely evening began to unfold for her.

After Marty left, Rory realized what a mistake she had made all those years ago in college when she'd chosen Logan over Marty.

"I just don't get it, Mom," Rory commented to Lorelai, "I never thought Marty was good enough for me and here it turns out I meant more to him than I ever did to Dean, Jess or probably Logan, for that matter."

"I always thought Marty was the best guy for you," Lorelai replied. "But unfortunately it's one of those cruel little jokes that nature plays on us mothers."

"What is?" Rory asked puzzedly.

"That nasty, evil joke which prevents us from imparting our wisdom to our children because they'll always want to do the opposite of whatever we suggest. Look, Rory, I can see the problem with you and Marty at Yale was that he was ready for you, but you weren't ready for him. Something got screwed up on that whole space-time continuum thingy."

"Space-time continuum?" Rory asked incredulously.

"You know – from _Back to the Future," _Lorelai answered impatiently, referencing one of their all time favorite movies to make fun of.

"Oh, yeah, _Back to the Future. _I should have known," Rory answered, rolling her eyes.

"Anyhoo, you'd better know you are ready for Marty now. He's grown into an incredibly handsome man and he's still as crazy about you as he ever was. And if you don't get together with Marty, that makes it official that you don't think any man is good enough for you and I'm getting 'Old Maid-Spinster Daughter' permanently tattooed on your forehead."

"Trust me, Mom, the tattoo won't be necessary. The fact that he's crazy about me even though I look like this, proves he _is _the man who's good enough for me. I promise you I won't blow it," Rory remarked sincerely, relieved that she'd still had a knight in shining armor waiting in the wings, even though she'd thought she'd exhausted her supply of them.

* * *

**AND NOW FOR A COMMERCIAL BREAK…**

A few nights later, Jess went back over to the Log Cabin Pub. He badly needed a drink. It was the same night he'd been scheduled to appear on the _Conan O'Brien_ show and he just couldn't sit around holed up in Luke's apartment thinking about it.

Rose came over to Jess just as he was sitting down at the bar and asked him, "Would you like your usual VO in a rocks glass and no ice, Mr. Mariano?"

"Please, just drop the Mr. Mariano and call me Jess," he replied curtly.

"But you're an important author; I feel funny just calling you Jess," Rose replied.

"Listen, I'm no more of a celebrity than you are, lady. I was scheduled to appear on the _Conan O'Brien _show tonight and I got dropped so another guest could take my place."

"Mmm…I wonder if Clara took your place?" Rose asked, pointing at a TV screen that several people in the bar were gathered around.

Jess did a double-take when Rose said Clara's name. He thought he must have misunderstood her as looked up at the screen and almost went into shock when he saw Clara's face and heard her voice coming out of the TV.

"So, Clara, then what'ya do?" Conan asked her with amusement, clearly taken in by her charm and beauty.

"Oh, I just called the embassy and told them what I had and emailed them pictures of the statues and voila, here I am telling you my story today," Clara giggled.

"I also hear you're a woman of tremendous singing talent," Conan noted sincerely. "What's your favorite song to sing?"

"Well, I have many, but I'd have to say my favorite song to sing would be 'Put a Ring On It' by my favorite artist, Beyonce."

"Would you mind singing it for us, Clara?"

"I'd be delighted, Conan," Clara replied in a bubbly voice, knowing this could lead to a big opportunity.

After she finished her song, she received thunderous applause and was invited to sit back down with Conan.

After the commercial break was over, Conan turned to Clara and asked, "So, Clara, safe to say Dexter wasn't the best boyfriend in the world, did you find someone to take his place yet?"

"Well…I thought I had, but the guy I wanted to be with doesn't seem to even know I'm alive." Clara replied sadly.

At this, the audience booed loudly and Conan said, "Not know you're alive? You a firecracker and a fox! What's this guy's problem?"

"Well, I can't say his name, but you'll meet him soon enough, he's supposed to be on your program pretty soon," Clara answered, not realizing that Jess had actually been bumped off the show so she could make in an appearance in his time slot.

"That narrows it down," Conan replied in an amused tone of voice, "I guess from now on, every time we have a male guest under forty, I'll ask him if he's the one who's missing out on Clara."

The crowd went wild with approval and the show went to another commercial break and Jess walked out of the bar, not knowing what to think about what Clara had just said on the air to Conan.

* * *

**LATER ON THAT WEEK…**

Clara caught the red-eye flight from LA on Thursday night and got into the Hartford Airport at 9:00 in the morning and instructed the cab driver to take her to Luke's Diner when they arrived in Stars Hollow.

Jess was in his usual, sullen corner when Clara walked into the diner and sat down at the counter and put in an order for hot chocolate and pancakes. He inadvertently looked up and caught sight of her as she was removing her famous sunglasses from her eyes. He was still thinking about what she'd said to Conan about a guy she liked not knowing she was alive. He couldn't get it out of his head, but he refused to stoop to some gushy romantic opening line to acknowledge it, and instead went with his vintage "Jess" style approach.

"Where do you get off telling people about our private business on TV, Clarabelle?"

"I told you never to call me Clarabelle again and since when has it has become appropriate to use the word _ours_ to describe anything between us?" Clara laughed loudly.

Jess grabbed her and gave her a passionate kiss in the middle of the diner.

Clara almost fainted when Jess kissed her, she'd never expected him to do anything so impulsive and said back to him, "Why did you do that?"

"I had to do something to make you stop with that annoying ridiculous laugh."

"Oh doll, I could feel that kiss from here," Babette rasped, "that kiss was definitely a ten. Good work, Jess."

"Oh…yes…that was some kiss," Miss Patty piped in, "you could even teach _me _a thing or two."

Jess ignored their horny comments and turned to Clara and said, "Come on, Clarabelle, let's take this upstairs."

"You want to make out in your uncle's apartment? Don't you think that might be a little embarrassing if he walks in on us?"

"He _won't_ walk in on us. He's spending the next few days in Cape Cod with Nicole."

Clara glanced around the restaurant at everyone staring at them, knowing what they'd think of her if they saw her climbing up the stairs with him at that moment and sassily replied, "Jess, I'm not going behind closed doors with you until you've had the decency to take me out a real date first."

Jess was impressed with her self-respect and replied, "Okay, Clarabelle, where do you want me to take you?"

She took a second to think about it and mischievously answered, "How 'bout Le Cirque in Manhattan? I think that'd be a worthy enough locale to merit me taking up my time with you." She only meant it as a joke because it was an extremely expensive restaurant and she actually hoped the suggestion would piss him off because she still enjoyed pushing his buttons.

"Nice choice," Jess answered to her surprise, "I've been there many times. Come on, let's get you home, I see you came here by cab from the airport and I don't think you'll want to walk home with that suitcase."

Jess got her suitcase and put it into his trunk and drove her home. Before he opened the door, he kissed her once more and told her he'd come back by her house at six o'clock to take them to the restaurant.

When they arrived at the restaurant that evening and the waiter handed Clara her menu, she almost thought she needed glasses as she stared down at the prices on the menu. Some of the appetizers alone were $45. She almost thought about just ordering the $21 bowl of soup and a glass of water and leaving it at that, thinking her joke had gone too far.

"Order what you want off the menu, Clara, and quit staring at the prices," Jess instructed sternly.

"Well, uh…I didn't want to even come here, I was just joking."

"Well I'm not joking. If you don't follow my instructions, I'm getting up and leaving."

"Okay, if that's how you want it, then I'm ordering the surf n' turf and the chocolate truffle mousse for dessert."

"You say that like you're getting even with me for something."

"Trust me, if I was getting even with you for something, you'd know it."

"Clarabelle?"

"What?"

"I meant what I said earlier today. I'd like for you to come back with me to my uncle luke's apartment tonight."

"Oh, and I suppose you think I owe it to you after you pay for my expensive dinner? Like that's gonna happen," Clara replied sassily.

"Clara, I love you," Jess replied as he took her hand.

"You love me?" Clara replied incredulously. "Where did _that_ come from?"

"I think I knew it for sure when I found out that you took my spot on the Conan O'Brien show."

"Whoa, wait a minute, are you implying I'm responsible for bumping you from his show? I had no idea you and I were scheduled for the same night."

"No, I'm not implying you're responsible for bumping me from show. But I was really pissed when my agent called and said that I'd lost the spot and then when I found out that you're the one who got it, I was really happy that you'd landed the guest spot instead of me. It was truly one of the few unselfish moments of my life."

"Well, Jess.., she paused, making him purposefully wonder what he she was going to say next before she continued…"I love you, too, by the way."

"Took you long enough to say it back, Clarabelle."

"Jess…"

"What?" he said back to her in amusement, half hoping she'd be angry at him for calling her Clarabelle because he enjoyed pushing her buttons, too.

"I know I said I only let my family call me Clarabelle, but I'll make an exception to that rule and you can call me that now whenever you want."

"Try not to be too accommodating, Clara, or else you're going to take all the fun out of this for me."

"Would it be 'too accommodating' if I change my mind about joining you at your uncle Luke's apartment tonight?"

"What do you think?"

"I think we should eat our food, get the check and get out of here as soon as possible."

"Good answer."

Later that night they made love in Luke's apartment. Clara was the first woman Jess had been with since Amanda and Jess was the only the second man Clara had ever been with. Each one of them knew they were so right for each other, but they both also knew it was going to be difficult for them because Jess lived in Philadelphia and Clara lived in Stars Hollow.

A few weeks later, Jess called Clara and suggested she apply for Temple University in Philadelphia for her master's program in advertising. Clara applied and was accepted and moved into the college dorms that fall. A few days before her Christmas break, she received a letter from Dean, telling her he'd applied to the engineering program at University of Connecticut and would be starting school for the spring semester. He also went on to tell her that he'd met a woman named Kyla Keeling in the college admissions office. He described Kyla as being a beautiful African American woman with a gorgeous figure, silky hair and electrifying, teal colored eyes. He went on to write that Kyla had something in common with him; she'd also lost her fiancée in an airplane accident, two years earlier. Dean told Clara in his letter that he couldn't wait for her to meet Kyla and that Kyla couldn't wait to meet her either and get the official Clara Forester stamp of approval since she already knew how important Clara was to Dean.

Clara clutched his letter and basked in the knowledge her brother was finally climbing out of the very dark hole he descended into so long ago. Then she thought of Ammo and how anxious she was to see his furry face again. Jess had promised to drive her home just as soon as her Christmas break started and then drive back to Stars Hollow again to celebrate Christmas with her.

* * *

**A LATE NIGHT RERUN…**

Shortly after Jess took Clara home for Christmas Break, he got a call from his agent, Ed, telling him that the _Conan O'Brien_ show wanted to book him for their Christmas Eve show. He called Clara from Philly to tell her he was finally going on the show and asked her if she wanted to come out to LA with him. She gladly accepted, not knowing what Jess had up his sleeve.

The night of the show, Clara sat out in the audience, expectantly waiting for Conan to announce Jess' appearance. Half way into the show, Conan looked into the camera and announced, "Our next guest is an up and coming author who has just completed a book about Iraqi War Veterans, called _This Land Is My Land: How Returning Iraqi Soldiers Are Readjusting To Life in America. _Ladies and gentlemen, please help me welcome Jess Mariano."

The audience applauded as the band cued the music up and Jess strolled out onto the stage in his black leather jacket and faded blue jeans. Clara beamed with pride as the girls around her whistled and hollered with approval when they saw just how good looking he was.

_Wow, they think my guy is really hot,_ she thought with pride.

The band played their last few notes of music and Jess and Conan shook hands before he took a seat.

"Good to see you, Jess. Congratulations on the success of your book."

"Thank you, Conan."

"What inspired you to do this project, Jess?"

Jess took a few moments to collect his thoughts before he spoke and then proceeded to tell Conan about Amanda. "Well, Conan, I had a very dear friend die in the Iraqi War about ten months ago. I thought it was important that we remember our soldiers and honor their service. I know if my friend were still alive, she'd want their stories to be told. Unfortunately, even though we're at war, I think a lot of Americans tend to forget that and might even be taking our soldiers' sacrifices for granted. I hope this book reminds everyone that our soldiers are very real people and that we should share our gratitude with them every time that opportunity is presented to us."

The audience applauded loudly, knowing Jess' words rang very true. Conan asked Jess about some of the soldiers' stories and they conversed on that topic for several more minutes before the show went to a commercial break.

After the commercial break, Conan decided to lighten the mood and asked Jess a question about a topic that was completely separate from his book.

"So, Jess, I understand we had you booked for this show five months ago and then you got bumped. Do you have any idea why we brought you back tonight?"

"Well, I know when I got bumped originally, my agent told me my interview would be rescheduled eventually," Jess answered innocently.

"Jess, I hate to break this to you, but your agent was _**lying**_ to you," Conan responded with exaggerated emphasis to sound more humorous. "When our bookers bump a guest, we rarely bring them back."

"Uh, okay, I guess I'll consider myself lucky," Jess said as he tilted his head to the side and shrugged sexily.

The girls in the audience went wild as they observed his stimulating gestures.

"Okay, you give up why we brought you back?" Conan asked.

"I hate to play guessing games, so I'm just going to go ahead and say that I do give up."

"Your agent gave us a call last week. It seems he found out that we had bumped you that night to bring on Clara Forester, who came on to talk about how she'd had her ex-boyfriend, Dexter Michaels busted for stealing statues from an archeological site in Israel. The reason your agent called to tell us about that is because it turned out coincidentally that you were the guy Clara was talking about when she said she had a guy she liked who didn't know she was alive. We had no idea at the time that she was talking about a guest we'd bumped from our show to bring her on, so when we found out, we just had to rebook you so we could meet you. So me and the audience would like to know…did you and Clara ever hook up?"

"Damn straight! She's here tonight!"

"Oh wow, that is the coolest," Conan cried out excitedly. "Clara, come up here and join us!" Conan insisted.

The musicians, remembering Clara very well, cued up Beyonce's "Put a Ring on It" and Clara started grooving to the music as she made her way up to the stage. When she got onto the stage she grabbed Conan for a big hug and he lifted her up and swung her in the air. When he put her down, she grabbed Jess and gave him a huge kiss.

The audience went wild with approval and then Clara sat next to Conan and waited for him to speak.

"So, Clara! This is the guy who you said didn't know you were alive?"

"This is him," she replied, grinning ear to ear.

"So I have to hear this from Jess," Conan continued. "How did you two finally end up getting together?"

"I'd have to say it was because of your show, Conan. Before the show, I thought Clara still had a thing for Dexter, then when I saw what she said when she came on for her interview, I knew she wanted to be with me and then I knew the path was clear."

"Well, Clara," Conan said, "last time you were on the show, we got you to sing 'Put a Ring on It.' Do you see that happening anytime soon with Jess?"

"Er…I have no idea…I guess that's up to Jess," Clara replied, turning several shades of red.

"Jess, do _you _see that happening anytime soon?" Conan asked mischievously.

"You better believe I do," Jess answered immediately, and then fished into one of the pockets of his leather jacket and pulled out a ring box. "What do you say, Clara, should we make this thing official?"

"Oh, yeah, Jess, the sooner I can move out of that stinking dorm room at Temple, the better," Clara replied in her classically irreverent humorous style.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I think that means she just said 'yes,'" Conan announced with amusement while Jess slipped the ring on Clara's finger.

The band cued up "Put a Ring on It" once more and the audience went wild as Jess and Clara kissed.

After the show, Clara and Jess departed for the airport and boarded their American Airlines flight back to Hartford.

They were seated in first class, toasting each other with some complimentary champagne, courtesy of the airlines, who'd known they'd gotten engaged on the Conan O'Brien show.

Clara looked at Jess quizzically and asked, "Jess, Conan made it sound like you didn't know why you were asked on the show tonight. It seems pretty coincidental that you had that ring in your pocket. What gives?"

"Oh, how astute of you, Sherlock. When my agent called, he let me know all about the reason I'd gotten booked this go around and we worked it out with the show so I could surprise you with that proposal on TV."

"You did that for me?" Clara asked excitedly. "Wait a minute," she said, growing suspicious. "Is this some kind of publicity stunt to get more book sales? Are you going to pull an April Fools on me tomorrow?"

"Clarabelle, you insult me," Jess replied, sounding hurt and disappointed. "First of all, if I get more book sales, that's only going to benefit you because my money is _our _money. Secondly, don't ever accuse me of trying to pull a stunt like that again. My word is my word and I don't like it when anyone suggests that it isn't – including you."

"I'm sorry, Jess. Hey, do you realize it's Christmas? Where should we go first when we land? My house or your uncle Luke's diner?"

"Let's start out with your house first. I think your parents should know you're about to become Mrs. Mariano, then we'll go see Luke and my mom and her bizarro husband, TJ, who I absolutely refuse to ever, ever, call my stepfather and it'll take you less than ten seconds to see why when you have the misfortune of meeting him."

"Mmm…I'm sure I can handle Mr. Bizarro. But hey, I can't wait for you to meet Dean's new girlfriend, Kyla. I think you'd really like her and I know she's going to be good for Dean."

"Sounds good, Clarabelle," Jess replied, "Merry Christmas, baby," he said warmly as he hugged her close to him.

He briefly thought of Amanda James, grateful that even though she had betrayed him, he knew that somehow she had brought a truce between him and Dean which had made it possible for him to be with Clara. He also realized she'd be pleased that both he and Dean had found someone else to love and his guilt about loving someone else began to diminish. Next to being with Clara, finally feeling like it was all right to move on with his life, was probably the best present he could have gotten for Christmas.

**The End**


	7. Chapter 7

**- Epilogue -**

**At the request of Marla's Lost, an Epilogue has been added to this story. Hope you enjoy…**

Luke and Nicole got married and sold the diner, and moved to Vancouver, about as far away from Stars Hollow as they possibly could. Luke opened a organic restaurant, in which anything coffee was banned including coffee ice cream. Nicole who had dual citizenship passed the bar in British Columbia, and practices family law.

Rory and Marty got married. Rory, against all her principles, joined a gym and got into fantastic shape. So much so, that the corporate office of the physical fitness company hired her to be their national spokesperson. She and Marty the night of the announcement had a wild celebration, and she became pregnant with triplets.

Dean and Kyla eventually got married. He was attending one of her photo shoots where he was discovered and eventually won a role on a new TV series Supernatural. They reside in Northern California where Kyla was chosen to be the face of the anti fun lobby, and her likeness was spread through out the country. They enjoy target shooting in their spare time.

Dexter went to prison where he eventually got married to Bubba, and last reports the couple was very very happy.

Lorelai watched Kirk win a how much you can eat a watermelon contest, and totally fell in love with him, Kirk is now a kept man. Lorelai walks around with a slightly glazed expression at all times.

Ammo, while in Hollywood, knocked up Lassie and is a defendant in the first paternity suit involving a dog. Paris Gellar is his lawyer.

Jess and Clara got married. Jess took over his uncle's diner and made it into a coffee house (Lorelai is banned). Clara encourages her husband's writing and supports the family by being a headline singer in Las Vegas.


End file.
